Emergency the darkest days of free India:Keshari Nath Tripathi

Kolkata : West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi termed the 1975 Emergency as the "darkest days of free India."In an article titled 'Emergency- The Dark Hour', Nath condemned the emergency imposed in the country during former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's regime.

"The Emergency days were the darkest days in the post-independent India. How one can stoop so low to fulfil the lust for power was shamelessly demonstrated in those days in the activities of the then ruling party at the Centre? There was a reign of terror throughout the country. Illustrations of brutalities in different forms inflicted on innocent citizens are too many to count," read the article.

Nath also said that emergency crossed all the limits of atrocities, during which people were devoid of their basic human rights.

"There is always a limit even to atrocities but this limit was crossed every day during the Emergency. Many Congressmen were seen active in vindicating their personal grievances and forcing the police to arrest their political adversaries. Humanity was absent throughout the Emergency," he noted.
Nath also compared country at the time of the Emergency to a jail where innocent people were detained and tortured.

"Schools run by the RSS were taken over by the Government. Some of them were forced to close down. The newspaper 'Motherland' was also a victim of the Emergency. People used to fear to talk even to their close friends against the Emergency. Democracy had been throttled by every means and at every stage," he added.

According to Nath, the Emergency strengthened the feelings of patriotism and has a stronger conviction for democracy. The people did not support the emergency and wanted to get rid of the situation.

The Emergency, which is considered to be one of the most controversial periods of independent India's history, was imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from June 25, 1975, to 1977.