When those in power become dictatorial, people have power to overthrow them: Amit Shah

New Delhi | Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday the Emergency was not a national necessity but a reflection of the anti-democratic mentality of the Congress and "just one person", a reference to then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Paying tributes to those who suffered after the imposition of Emergency by the Indira Gandhi government on June 25, 1975, Shah said the day reminds everyone that when those in power become dictatorial, the people have the power to overthrow them.

The home minister said the Emergency was the "Age of Injustice of Congress' hunger for power".

The Modi government observes this day as 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas' so that the new generation is made aware of the pain and torture that the countrymen faced during the Emergency, he said.

"This day tells us that when power becomes dictatorial, the people have the power to overthrow it," he wrote on X in Hindi.

"The Emergency was not a national necessity, but a reflection of the "anti-democratic mentality" of the Congress and one person," the minister said.

He said freedom of the press was crushed, the hands of the judiciary were tied and social workers were put in jail.

"The countrymen raised the slogan of 'sinhasan khali karo' (vacate the throne) and uprooted the dictatorial Congress. A heartfelt tribute to all the heroes who sacrificed their lives in this struggle," he said.

Last year, Shah had announced that the Modi government would observe June 25 as the 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas' to commemorate the "massive contributions" of those who endured "inhuman pain" during the period.

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

A gazette notification to this effect noted that the 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".