Govt declares June 25 as 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas' as reminder of Emergency

New Delhi: The Union government has decided to observe June 25, the day the Emergency was declared in 1975, as 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas', Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday. This is to commemorate the 'massive contributions' of those who endured inhuman pains of the period, he added.

Congress slammed the government's move, terming it yet another "headline grabbing exercise in hypocrisy" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congress General Secretary (In-charge, Communications), Jairam Ramesh said, "Yet another headline grabbing exercise in hypocrisy by the non-biological PM who had imposed an undeclared Emergency for ten long years before the people of India handed him a decisive personal, political, and moral defeat on June 4, 2024 - which will go down in history as ModiMukti Diwas."

The Home Minister said the observance of 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas' will help keep the eternal flame of individual freedom and the defence of the democracy alive in every Indian, thus preventing "dictatorial forces" like the Congress from "repeating those horrors".

A gazette notification issued on Friday by the Union Home Ministry notes that Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975, following which there was "gross abuse of power by the government of the day and people of India were subjected to excesses and atrocities".

The people of India have abiding faith in the Constitution and the power of its resilient democracy, it said.

"Therefore, Government of India declares 25th June as 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas' to pay tribute to all those who suffered and fought against the gross abuse of power during the period of Emergency and to recommit the people of India to not support in any manner such gross abuse of power, in future," says the notification.

Shah said that on June 25, 1975, then prime minister Indira Gandhi, in a "brazen display of a dictatorial mindset, strangled the soul of India's democracy by imposing the Emergency on the nation". Lakhs of people were thrown behind the bars for no fault of their own, and the voice of the media was silenced, he said.

"The Government of India has decided to observe the 25th of June every year as 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas.' This day will commemorate the massive contributions of all those who endured the inhuman pains of the 1975 Emergency," he said in a post on X.

"The decision made by the government led by PM Shri @narendramodi Ji is intended to honour the spirit of millions who struggled to revive democracy despite facing inexplicable persecution at the hands of an oppressive government," he said.
(With PTI inputs.)