11-05-2007, 02:51 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Situation in Pak akin to what India faced in '75: BJP </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
The BJP on Sunday said that developments in Pakistan were akin to what India faced during the Internal Emergency imposed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975.
Expressing solidarity with the people of Pakistan in their struggle for restoration of democracy, the main Opposition party said it was ironical that the developments were taking place in Pakistan on a day when the president of the AICC, which was responsible for the tyranny of Emergency in 1975, was accusing the BJP of being heartless and lacking concern for the people.
"The world has repeatedly witnessed democratic constitutions being subverted in the name of Emergency in order to institutionalise personal power through totalitarianism. Highlighting the threat of extremism, dangers of destabilisation, and even encroachment by the judiciary into the executive domain have been favourite slogans used by the dictators as an alibi for proclamation of Emergency," BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said.
The senior party leader elaborated saying Adolf Hitler used the fire in Reichstag as a ground for proclaiming Emergency in Germany while Indira Gandhi used alleged attempts at destabilising the country as an alibi. "It is not surprising that General Pervez Musharraf has used terrorism and judicial encroachment into the executive domain to highlight the threat of destabilisation," Jaitley remarked.
Hitting back at the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family, the BJP alleged that some proclaimers of Emergency went a step further as in India they used the fear psychosis created by Emergency to institutionalise and make acceptable "a dynasty as an alternative to democracy".
"It is not uncommon for such proclaimers to claim that it is ultimately the interest of the poor that they have at heart and for whom the Emergency will seek to support through faster economic growth," Jaitley added.
The common thread in the tale of emergencies was, the BJP asserted, an inbuilt desire in the proclaimer of the Emergency to perpetuate personal power, usurp absolute power, eliminate all possibilities of losing that power and intolerance towards any form of criticism.
Maintaining that the BJP was stating this so that a very large part of Indian population born after the mid-1970s may remind itself as to what the country had faced during the period of Internal Emergency in 1975-77, the party said India displayed a great resilience in fighting the Emergency and it hopes for a similar success of the Pakistani counterparts
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Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
The BJP on Sunday said that developments in Pakistan were akin to what India faced during the Internal Emergency imposed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975.
Expressing solidarity with the people of Pakistan in their struggle for restoration of democracy, the main Opposition party said it was ironical that the developments were taking place in Pakistan on a day when the president of the AICC, which was responsible for the tyranny of Emergency in 1975, was accusing the BJP of being heartless and lacking concern for the people.
"The world has repeatedly witnessed democratic constitutions being subverted in the name of Emergency in order to institutionalise personal power through totalitarianism. Highlighting the threat of extremism, dangers of destabilisation, and even encroachment by the judiciary into the executive domain have been favourite slogans used by the dictators as an alibi for proclamation of Emergency," BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said.
The senior party leader elaborated saying Adolf Hitler used the fire in Reichstag as a ground for proclaiming Emergency in Germany while Indira Gandhi used alleged attempts at destabilising the country as an alibi. "It is not surprising that General Pervez Musharraf has used terrorism and judicial encroachment into the executive domain to highlight the threat of destabilisation," Jaitley remarked.
Hitting back at the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family, the BJP alleged that some proclaimers of Emergency went a step further as in India they used the fear psychosis created by Emergency to institutionalise and make acceptable "a dynasty as an alternative to democracy".
"It is not uncommon for such proclaimers to claim that it is ultimately the interest of the poor that they have at heart and for whom the Emergency will seek to support through faster economic growth," Jaitley added.
The common thread in the tale of emergencies was, the BJP asserted, an inbuilt desire in the proclaimer of the Emergency to perpetuate personal power, usurp absolute power, eliminate all possibilities of losing that power and intolerance towards any form of criticism.
Maintaining that the BJP was stating this so that a very large part of Indian population born after the mid-1970s may remind itself as to what the country had faced during the period of Internal Emergency in 1975-77, the party said India displayed a great resilience in fighting the Emergency and it hopes for a similar success of the Pakistani counterparts
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