On the 30th anniversary of the Emergency, which is being observed as 'Black Day' by the Bharatiya Janata Party, party chief Lal Kishenchand Advani on Saturday said the 'Emergency mindset' still exists within the Congress.
"You can see evidences of it on several occasions. If you are intolerant towards an opposition, if you are intolerant towards dissent, dissidence, then I would say it is the Emergency mindset which is reflecting itself," Advani told NDTV in an interview.
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He, however, parried a query on senior Congress leaders who were active during the Emergency, saying he did not want to raise any issues related to individuals.
Advani said it is important that people are educated about what happened during the Emergency that was imposed by
the then Indira Gandhi government in 1975.
"It is for you in the media to educate people. The more you educate people about what happened, you can see it will be better for the interest of the country," the BJP chief said.
Recalling the Emergency period, he said most of the Jan Sangh leaders were arrested immediately throughout the country, following which a 'satyagraha' was launched under Jayprakash Narayan's leadership.
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Advani, however, said the Emergency laid the foundation for coalition governance.
"When you are in prison together, naturally trust is created and the subsequent formation of the Janata Party became possible only because of Emergency and our incarceration together," he said, noting that it was during that time that he came to know leaders like Ramkrishna Hegde and Deve Gowda.