‘Emergency was a mistake’ says Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi.

Byline By- Vinayak Heliwal

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday termed the Emergency imposed by former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975 was a ‘mistake’ and said what happened during that period was completely ‘wrong’.

Terming the Emergency imposed by his grandmother over 21 months from 1975 to 1977 as ‘wrong’, Rahul Gandhi said what is happening in the country currently is fundamentally different from the Emergency.

He alleged that currently, Rashtriya Swatamsewak Sangh (RSS) is trying to capture the independent institutions.

“RSS is doing something fundamentally different. They are filling institutions with their people. Even if we defeat BJP in the election, we are not going to get rid of their people in the institutional structure” the Congress leader said.

Rahul Gandhi while speaking to Kaushik Basu, a professor at the Cornell University in the US and India’s former chief economic advisor said he favors internal Democracy in Congress, which fought for India’s independence and gave the country its Constitution and stood for equality.

Asked about his views on the Emergency, Rahul Gandhi said “I think that (Emergency) was a mistake. That was a mistake. There is a fundamental difference between what happened in the Emergency, which was wrong, and what is happening now. Congress party, at no point, attempted to capture India’s constitutional framework. Our design doesn’t allow us that. Even if we want to do it, we can’t,”

This was a rare instance when a member of the Gandhi family publicly termed the Emergency as ‘wrong’ and ‘mistake’. Earlier during the Lok Sabha elections too Rahul Gandhi had apologized in the interview beating that Emergency was a mistake.

On internal Democracy within Congress, Rahul Gandhi said that he is the one who pushed for elections in the party and the Youth Congress and NSUI levels but was criticized by his party leaders.

Rahul Gandhi wonders why nobody raises questions on why there is no internal Democracy in BJP, BSP, and SP and said such questions are about the Congress as it is an ideological party and has the ideology of Constitution.

Lastly, Rahul Gandhi asked about he felt about the death of his father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, Rahul said ‘it made him understand violence’. Rahul Gandhi also made a bold statement that he saw his father’s death coming as he was fighting many forces at the same time.