Emergency debate

Govt had imposed an undeclared Emergency, says Ghulam Nabi Azad

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday discussed the address of the President of India to the joint sitting of Parliament. Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leader of the Opposition in the House, said the government had imposed an “undeclared Emergency” in the country where no criticism of its decisions, particularly on demonetisation, was allowed. To this, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was imprisoned during the Emergency of 1975-77, shot back that at least the Congress admitted that the Emergency was bad. Azad said the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, had apologised for the Emergency. He added that the difference was the government at that time followed due process to impose Emergency, while now it was an “undeclared Emergency”.