Former prime minister Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency to save her government and killed democracy and this "black day" can never be forgotten, BJP leader and former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Sunday.
Speaking at a function organised in Kusumpti on the 48th anniversary of the Emergency, Thakur said thousands of opposition leaders were jailed, the voice of people was muzzled and the media was censored during the period.
"Senior political leaders were subjected to inhuman torture and even the intellectuals were not spared but our leaders opposed the Emergency and later Indira Gandhi was thrown out of power," he said, adding the fight against the forces weakening the democracy would never cease.
Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency to save her government and killed democracy, he said, adding this "black day" can never be forgotten.
Thakur, the leader of the opposition in the assembly, said that a similar situation is emerging in Himachal Pradesh but the BJP will not tolerate the ruling dispensation's arrogance and fight for the rights of the people.
Attacking the Sukhu government for stopping the pension of people who were jailed during the Emergency, Thakur said that the government has money for appointing chief parliamentary secretaries and advisors but no money for paying pensions to 80 "Loktantra Praharis" (saviours of democracy).
State BJP president Rajiv Bindal recalled how he and others were detained and tortured in jails during the Emergency and a new slogan "Indira is India and India is Indira" was coined.
"False cases were instituted and arrests were made and I remained in jail for four-and-a-half months and got relief from the court," he said.
The Indira Gandhi government imposed the Emergency on this day in 1975, suspending civil liberties and censoring the press. It was lifted on March 21, 1977.