On a day when several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders took on the Congress over the Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, a statement issued by the Congress in party-ruled Chhattisgarh called it a “ samvaidhanik vyavastha” or “constitutional system”.
As has been the case over the years, on Saturday — the 47th anniversary of the declaration of Emergency — most Congress leaders avoided making any public statements on the topic. However, according to the statement issued by the Chhattisgarh Congress media in-charge Sushil Anand Shukla “...the Emergency was a constitutional step taken according to the then circumstances of the country”.
The statement “issued in response to the statements made by BJP leaders in context of Emergency”, further went on to add that “Emergency was imposed by the then Central Government under Article 352 of the Constitution. Emergency was imposed by the President on the advice of the Union Cabinet after the approval of the Parliament of the country”.
