June 25, 1975, is not just a date in India’s constitutional history, it is a black day when the soul of democracy was crushed in the lust for power. Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation and senior BJP leader Amit Shah made it unequivocally clear that it was not merely an ‘Emergency’ but the final, desperate attempt of a power-hungry Congress to save its throne, a period of injustice that was forcibly imposed on the nation under the false pretext of national security.
This dark chapter didn’t just strangle the freedom of expression; it deafened the judiciary and rendered the press inkless. For 21 months, this anti-democratic silence loomed over the entire nation, turning the citizens of India into prisoners in their own land. When the Government of India decided to observe this day as ‘SanvidhaanHatya Diwas’ (Constitution Murder Day), it was a national awakening in defence of democratic values.
Amidst the oppressive darkness of the Emergency, when the entire nation was under the grip of fear and suppression, a young pracharak, who today is the Prime Minister of India, held aloft the torch of democracy while living underground. In disguises, sometimes as a monk, sometimes as a newspaper vendor, he ignited the spirit of public awakening. Today, that very leader is the embodiment of the trust, aspirations, and hopes of 140 crore Indians. This isn’t just historical irony — it is poetic justice. A shift from an era afflicted by the ‘I am supreme’ mindset to a new age where the call of ‘Nation Above All’ has become the conscience of the people.
If Prime Minister Modi symbolises public sentiment, then his most trusted strategist, the steadfast defender of democracy and the Chanakya of modern India, Amit Shah, is the vigilant guardian of that very spirit which sees democracy not just as a system, but as an intrinsic part of Indian way of life.
Amit Shah’s address at the national event marking ‘SanvidhaanHatya Diwas’was not just a speech, it was a redefinition of democracy. He reminded the nation that the night of June 24, 1975, was the darkest in Indian history, during which the democracy was eclipsed for 21 months. At the behest of a kitchen cabinet, without the approval of Parliament or even the Cabinet, a single signature muted the Constitution. The same Constitution which took the Constituent Assembly 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days to draft, was crippled with one decree. Over 1.10 lakh political and social workers were imprisoned, more than 1 crore citizens were forcibly sterilized, and 253 journalists were arrested. Censorship struck the press so harshly that editorial pages of newspapers began to be printed blank.
The pertinent question is, was the nation truly in danger? Or was the throne slipping away? Today, history itself answers this. This crisis was never about the nation, it was about the survival of one family’s power. When some parties now repeatedly speak of protecting the Constitution, it must be remembered that the hands which murdered it in 1975 are the very same. Parliament, judiciary, press, all were sought to be subjugated. The parties that now champion democracy were then standing with the regime and benefitting from it. It is also a historical truth that the political decline of the Congress began in that very era, a decline which has now brought it to the brink of irrelevance.
The Emergency is not just a chapter in history books, it is a warning that democracy always needs vigilant guardians. Under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, India has pledged to free itself from the ‘colonial mindset’. That pledge will be fulfilled only when we not just remember the mistakes of the past but also learn from them. Today, India has stepped into an era where leadership is driven by the spirit of ‘we’, not ‘I’. And this transformation is not merely political, it is a renaissance of cultural and national consciousness, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.