Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday described June 25, 1975 — the day Emergency was imposed in India — as the “murder of the Constitution,” and said the nation must remember it not merely as a chapter in history, but as a warning for future generations.
Speaking at an event in New Delhi to mark the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, now officially observed as Samvidhan Hatya Diwas, Shah said democratic institutions were silenced and individual freedoms suppressed “to protect one leader’s hold on power.” He added that forgetting the Emergency would be a mistake, and that younger generations need to know how institutions were silenced and rights curtailed “in the name of national security.”
“Usually, bad incidents should be forgotten. But when it comes to national life, such incidents should be remembered forever — so that they’re never repeated,” Shah said, addressing the event in New Delhi as chief guest.
The event was also attended by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, among others.
The home minister referred to the night of June 24, 1975, when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a state of Emergency across India. He said the justification offered — a threat to national security — was a smokescreen to protect the Prime Minister’s hold on power.
“On June 12, the Allahabad High Court had struck down the PM’s election. That same day, the Janata Morcha won in Gujarat. The Emergency was declared just days later. The world knows today — it was not national security that was in danger, it was the Prime Minister’s position,” Shah said.
The Constitution, which had been carefully drafted over three years by Dr B R Ambedkar and others, was rendered meaningless by a single sentence: “The President has declared Emergency”, the home minister stressed.
Detailing the measures taken during the Emergency, Shah cited the Shah Commission’s findings and said India had been turned into a prison. According to him, over 1.1 lakh political workers and social activists were jailed, 253 journalists arrested, 29 foreign correspondents expelled, and widespread censorship was enforced — even in Parliament.
“All India Radio was censored. Electricity to newspaper offices was cut. Papers like The Indian Express and Jansatta protested by leaving editorial spaces blank,” Shah said, adding that “judges who ruled against the government were punished,” and that films, actors, and even songs were banned if they were seen as critical of the regime.
Artists including Kishore Kumar, Dev Anand, and Manoj Kumar were targeted. Films such as Aandhi and Kissa Kursi Ka were banned. Parliamentary debates were censored, and the judiciary “brought under control,” he said.
Shah said a Cabinet meeting was convened at 4 a.m. on June 25, without an agenda, to formalize the imposition of Emergency.
“The mindset that emerged during that time — that the party is bigger than the nation, the family bigger than the party, and the individual bigger than the family — still poses a threat to democracy,” Shah said.
Referring to the 1977 general election — in which the Congress was voted out and the Janata Party came to power — Shah said that was the first time in India’s history that a non-Congress party formed a government with an absolute majority.
“That victory was not of a party but of Indian democracy. The people reminded us that the Constitution belongs to them, not those in power,” he said.
In a veiled contrast with the past, Shah said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the idea of ‘Nation First’ has taken firm root. “Today, 1.4 billion Indians are working with resolve to make India No. 1 globally by 2047. This has been made possible by the sacrifices of those who resisted the Emergency and spent 19 months in jail,” he said.
In 2024, the Centre issued a notification officially designating June 25 as Samvidhan Hatya Diwas, to mark the declaration of Emergency — widely viewed as one of the most controversial and debated chapters in Indian political history.
Source: PIB