BJP veteran LK Advani on Friday clarified on his controversial remarks on Emergency , saying the target of his attack was not an individual as being speculated by the media, but the opposition Congress which he said must apologise for imposing it four decades ago.
“The Emergency remarks were directed at Congress. The party has not expressed any regret over it. I want the senior Congress leadership to apologise for 1975,” Advani told India Today TV’s Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai in what is being seen as his damage control exercise following a massive row over his interview to the Indian Express.
Asked if he referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he said that the forces that can crush democracy were stronger at present and a repeat of an Emergency-like situation cannot be ruled out, the BJP’s Margdarshak Mandal member said, “I did not mean any individual when I made that statement. I am opposed to all kinds of dictatorships.”
“Arrogance breeds authoritarianism,” he added.
“Today’s leaders should be modest like Vajpayee,” he told India Today TV, again refusing to explain if he meant anybody in particular. Advani was former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee’s deputy during the first National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government a decade ago. Vajpayee was recently honoured with the Bharat Ratna.
In his interview with the Indian Express ahead of the 40th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency during which he was jailed as part of the crackdown on opposition parties, Advani said “forces that can crush democracy, notwithstanding the constitutional and legal safeguards, are stronger”. Observing that he did not mean the political leadership was not mature, he said he did not have faith due to its weakness. Advani also said that he did not have confidence that the Emergency cannot happen again, noting “there aren’t enough safeguards in India in 2015”.
Advani found unlikely supporters in Delhi and Bihar Chief Ministers Arvind Kejriwal and Nitish Kumar, while the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Janata Dal-United and the Rashtriya Janata Dal started targeting Modi by terming Advani’s comments as a veiled swipe at the prime minister. The Bharatiya Janata Party denied this.
Kejriwal also took a dig at Prime Minister Modi in a reference to the various stand-offs between the central government and his government on issues including power to appoint and transfer officials. “Advani ji is correct in saying that Emergency can’t be ruled out. Is Delhi their first experiment?,” Kejriwal tweeted.
An internal Emergency was imposed on the country by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on June 25-26, 1975, and it lasted for 19 months.
Prasanta Patnaik