BJP looking at past, must focus on future: Raut on 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas'

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday, 13 July, said it has been 50 years since the Emergency was imposed, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues to look at the past instead of focusing on the future.

Raut was reacting to the Centre's decision to observe June 25, the day the Emergency was declared in 1975, as Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas.

Union minister Amit Shah on Friday said the day will be observed to commemorate the "massive contributions" of those who endured the inhuman pains of the period.

Talking to PTI Videos, Raut said it has been 50 years since the Emergency, but the BJP is still looking at the past when it should focus on the future.

The situation today is such that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tenure is like the Emergency, he claimed.

"Anyone is picked up and put in jail. There is pressure on the courts, you (the government) are running the central agencies, you are jailing your opponents, corruption and anarchy are rising, and China has made an incursion. The situation was the same at that time. Indira ji worked in a much dangerous situation," Raut said.

A gazette notification issued on Friday by the Union Home Ministry noted that the Emergency was declared on 25 June 1975, following which there was "gross abuse of power by the government of the day and people of India were subjected to excesses and atrocities".

Several opposition leaders, including those from the BJP, were put in jail during the Emergency declared by then prime minister Indira Gandhi. The Shiv Sena had backed the Emergency.