Centre announces June 25th as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ marking 1975 Emergency

The Central Government led by Prime Minister Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) declared June 25th as “Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas”, as announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday, July 12th, 2024.

PM Modi said the observance of ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ will serve as a “reminder of what happens when the Constitution of India is trampled over”. According to the prime minister, it’s also a day to honor everyone who was harmed by the Emergency, which was “a Congress unleashed dark phase of Indian history.”

A national emergency was declared on June 25, 1975, by Indira Gandhi, the Congress leader and prime minister at the time. The Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975, at midnight, and it lasted for around 21 months before being lifted on March 21, 1977. “Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas” will honor the enormous efforts of everyone who suffered during the 1975 Emergency, according to a statement by Amit Shah.

Amit Shah’s Statement on Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas

In a post on social media platform X, Shah said, “On 25 June 1975, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, showing her dictatorial mindset, strangled the soul of Indian democracy by imposing emergency in the country. Lakhs of people were jailed without any reason and the voice of the media was suppressed.”

The post further said that “the Government of India has decided to observe 25 June every year as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’, to remind us of the immense contribution of all those people who suffered the inhuman pain of the Emergency of 1975.”

The Congress retaliated immediately, dubbing June 4, the day of the 2024 Lok Sabha election results, “Modi Mukti Diwas” (Day of Freedom from Modi) and denouncing the announcement as a “headline-grabbing exercise in hypocrisy” made by a prime minister who, after imposing a ten-year emergency, had to face a “decisive personal, political, and moral defeat” by the public. It added that the people of India have abiding faith in the Constitution and the power of its resilient democracy.

President Droupadi Murmu’s Address

President Droupadi Murmu addressed a joint session of both chambers of Parliament last month, touching on a range of subjects including the ongoing controversy around document leaks and the state of emergency. The President declared the Emergency of 1975, referring to it as “the biggest and darkest chapter of direct attack on the Constitution,” while reiterating the government’s unshakeable trust in the document and its attempts to integrate it into “public consciousness.”

Hours after the Indian government proclaimed that June 25 will be commemorated every year as “Constitution Murder Day” in honor of the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi administration in 1975, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh aimed “non-biological” Prime Minister Modi on Friday.

“This is a non-biological PM whose ideological parivar had rejected the Constitution of India in November 1949 on the grounds that it did not derive inspiration from Manusmriti. This is a non-biological PM for whom democracy means only demo-kursi,” he added.

Speaker Om Birla read a statement denouncing the Emergency at the opening session of the new Lok Sabha last month, drawing criticism from the Congress and other opposition MPs. Birla said, “This House condemns the decision to impose the Emergency in 1975. We also appreciate the resolve of those who opposed the Emergency with all their might and fulfilled the responsibility of protecting India’s democracy. The Congress trampled upon the spirit of the Constitution. It imposed a dictatorship in 1975. People bore the brunt of draconian policies. The Emergency is a blot on our history.”

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