BJP to Observe 1975 Emergency Anniversary as ‘Black Day’

Indira Gandhi’s government declared Emergency on 25 June 1975.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declared on Monday, 18 June, that it will observe a ‘Black Day’ on 25 June, to mark the anniversary of the declaration of Emergency in India in 1975, ANI reported.

Former President Fakhruddin Ali, under orders from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, declared “a state of Emergency” on 25 June 1975.

Several senior BJP leaders, including those who are Members of Parliament, have said they will be observing the date as a ‘black day’ in protest.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that he would release a three-part blog series about the Emergency. The first was released on 24 June. The second, on 25 June.

The third would be published on 26 June, Jaitley said in a Facebook post.

Additionally, several BJP leaders, including Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, have often cited the Emergency and Indira Gandhi as a basis to attack the Congress whenever the present government is accused of being anti-democratic.

During Emergency, Congress’ president at the time gave the slogan ‘India is Indira and Indira is India’. For those who understand Hinduism and Hindutva, the country is only ‘Bharat Mata’, but for Congress ‘India is Indira’. They haven’t apologized for this slogan yet.

Sudhanshu Trivedi, Leader, BJP