Union minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to democracy has healed the wounds of the Emergency which he described as a "black spot" in the history of independent India.
Singh said Prime Minister Modi will always be remembered for laying the strong foundation of India's democracy as it was made possible during his period that each benefit of democracy reached the last person in the queue without any discrimination.
Addressing a meeting of intellectuals to mark the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government, he said India's moment has arrived and "it is India's decade and India's century”.
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Quoting the prime minister, Singh said, the Emergency imposed in 1975 trampled and suppressed democracy, but democracy is in India's DNA and that is why the nation could come out unscathed from that darkest period of post-independence times.
"India is indeed the mother of democracies. Democracy runs in the spirit and veins of a common Indian,” he said.
The senior BJP leader said Prime Minister Modi's commitment to democracy has healed the wounds of the Emergency which was a "black spot" in the history of independent India.
The Emergency was declared on this day in 1975 by then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
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Singh said an evaluation of the "dark period of Emergency" is important so that the young generation can understand the meaning and significance of true democracy, its value and the sacrifices given by "our seniors to save and sustain it".
Hailing the commitment of leaders and the common masses in resisting the imposition of Emergency, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office said the leaders of Jana Sangh supported the pro-democracy movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan and rose against the draconian measures taken by the government.
"Jana Sangh followed the mantra of 'nation first, self last' in true spirit and as a party dissolved itself to join the JP movement,” he recalled.
Referring to Winston Churchill's statement that India would not survive as a democracy even for half a century after gaining freedom, Singh said had the British premier been alive today, he would have regretted his statement seeing India growing as a vibrant democracy under Narendra Modi and leading the world in every sphere.
"Today India has even left behind Churchill's UK in many spheres, including economy,” he said.
He said the world today not only recognises India as a stable democracy but also a force to reckon with. "This was evident from Modi's just-concluded US visit, when even the US visibly accepted India as an equal partner in all the bilateral engagements," he added.
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- With PTI Input
