Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas is being observed today. It serves as a reminder of what happened when the Constitution of India was trampled on on June 25, 1975. It is also a day to pay homage to every person who suffered due to the excesses of the Emergency.
Akashvani Correspondent reports that on this day in 1975, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed issued the Emergency Proclamation under Article 352, citing threats from internal disturbance. The Emergency was declared against a backdrop of mounting political unrest and judicial developments that shook the legitimacy of the ruling leadership of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The executive acquired overriding powers, and state authority was brought under central control. Following the proclamation, constitutional safeguards were systematically suspended. Article 358 suspended protections under Article 19, affecting freedom of speech, expression, assembly, and movement. Citizens were barred from approaching courts for redress. Pre-censorship was imposed on all newspapers. Even the statutory watchdog, the Press Council of India, was abolished. Sharing his thoughts in the Mann Ki Baat programme of Akashvani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the Emergency was the darkest era in the country’s history when atrocities were committed on those supporting democracy.
Eminent Journalist Ram Bahadur Rai, who was jailed during the emergency, spoke to Akashvani and shared about the atrocities committed during the period.
Constitutional Amendments during that period barred the courts from questioning the President’s decision to declare an Emergency and excluded the election of the Prime Minister and Speaker of the Lok Sabha from judicial scrutiny.
