Country will not forget sacrifice of people who fought for democracy during Emergency: PM Modi
New Delhi: The sacrifice of people who fought for democracy during the Emergency will never be forgotten, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday.
Former prime minister Indira Gandhi had imposed the Emergency in the country on June 25, 1975.
"Emergency was imposed on the country exactly 45 years ago. I salute the people who fought for the protection of India's democracy then, underwent torture," Modi tweeted in Hindi.
The country will never forget their sacrifice, he said.
The prime minister also shared a short clip of one of his "Mann ki Baat" radio address of June 2019 in which he had referred to the Emergency.
In that episode of his monthly radio programme, Modi had reminded people of the Emergency and urged them not to take democracy "for granted", saying in day-to-day life, it is difficult to savour the joy of democratic rights, unless they are snatched away.
In 1977 Lok Sabha elections, the PM had said, people voted without bothering about other rights and requirements.
They voted, he said, "just for the sake of saving democracy. And the country had witnessed one such election in 1977."
आज से ठीक 45 वर्ष पहले देश पर आपातकाल थोपा गया था। उस समय भारत के लोकतंत्र की रक्षा के लिए जिन लोगों ने संघर्ष किया, यातनाएं झेलीं, उन सबको मेरा शत-शत नमन! उनका त्याग और बलिदान देश कभी नहीं भूल पाएगा। pic.twitter.com/jlQVJQVrsX
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 25, 2020