Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Tuesday that the BJP government in Delhi will give pensions to people who were jailed for opposing the Emergency (1975-77) and will also honour them. She made this announcement during an event at the Delhi Secretariat, where job letters were handed over to the families of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims.

Ms Gupta said that earlier governments did not support or help those who were jailed during the Emergency to protect democracy.“Our government has decided to give pensions to such people, also known as loktantra senanis (soldiers of democracy). They will also be honoured by the Delhi government, just like some other states do,” she said.

The Emergency was imposed in the country from 1975 to 1977 by the then Congress government under Article 352 of the Constitution. Several states, including BJP-ruled ones like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, already provide pensions to people who were jailed during that time.

Many BJP leaders and members of other opposition parties were put in jail during the Emergency imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Congress government.Earlier this year, on March 21, the Delhi unit of the BJP honoured those who were jailed during the Emergency at an event called Loktantra Vijay Divas (Democracy Victory Day). The event took place at the New Delhi Municipal Council’s convention centre.