The Congress on Thursday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, saying that his reference to the Emergency in his acceptance speech on Wednesday was “deeply shocking” and was a “travesty to Parliamentary traditions”.
In the letter, Congress MP KC Venugopal, General Secretary in-charge of Organisation, said, “Making of such a political reference from the Chair is unprecedented in the annals of the history of Parliament.”
“I am writing this in the context of a very grave matter impacting upon the very credibility of the institution of Parliament. Yesterday that is 26 June 2024, at the time of offering felicitations on your election as Speaker Lok Sabha, there was a general camaraderie in the House as such occasions generate,” he said in the letter.
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“However, what followed thereafter, which is reference from the Chair after your acceptance speech, in regard to declaration of Emergency half a century ago, is deeply shocking. Making of such a political reference from the Chair is unprecedented in the annals of history of Parliament. This coming from the Chair as one of the ‘first duties’ from a newly elected Speaker assumes even graver proportions. I, on behalf of the Indian National Congress, express our profound concern and anguish over this travesty of Parliamentary traditions,” he said.
On the 50th anniversary, soon after Birla took charge as the Speaker on Wednesday, he read out a resolution condemning the imposition of Emergency on the night of June 25-26, 1975, calling out the Congress and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for its atrocities.
Then on Thursday, President Droupadi Murmu in her joint address to Parliament, called the Emergency the “biggest attack” on India’s Constitution and called it the “darkest chapter” in the country’s history.
President Murmu said India plunged into chaos during the Emergency and attempts to “tarnish” democracy should be condemned by everyone.
The Emergency, lasting for nearly two years — from June 1975 to March 1977 — is described as the “dark period” of Indian democracy.
Also Read: President Murmu invokes ‘Emergency’, sends message to Opposition in joint address
Speaker Om Birla too called it a “dark period” and said Indira Gandhi – by imposing the Emergency – had “attacked the Constitution made by Babasaheb Ambedkar”.