The Return Of BJP’s Anti-Emergency Narrative

The President’s veiled attack on the opposition – although she didn’t name any political party – over Emergency came a day after Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla issued a statement condemning the same. From top political functionaries including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to BJP Chief JP Nadda, the saffron party has taken turns this week in condemning the Indira Gandhi-imposed Emergency. In fact, since June 25, the BJP has been marking 50 years of the imposition of the Emergency with various programmes. The issue also seems to be dominating the Parliament session this time. 

The remarks by the President drew sharp criticism from the Opposition who dismissed it as a speech ‘scripted by the government’ and ‘full of lies’. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X: “Listening to the President's address written by the Modi government felt like Modi Ji is trying every possible way to deny the public mandate. The mandate was against him because the people of the country rejected his slogan of "crossing 400" and kept the BJP away from the figure of 272.” They further alleged that there is an “undeclared emergency” in the country and the Constitution is being attacked under the Modi government.

Outlook editor Chinki Sinha wrote in the 21 June, 2024 issue on how the little red book – the Constitution of India – was the ultimate winner in the recently-concluded election. “The little red book that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed was the Chinese Constitution, which Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress waved at a rally in May, is a remedy against anything that tries to divide us as people,” she wrote. 

BJP’s anti-Emergency campaign is in fact, a counter to Opposition’s aforementioned poll narrative woven around the ‘threat to Constitution’. The opposition bloc, led a sustained campaign against the BJP, claiming its ‘400 paar’ slogan indicated it wants to ‘change the Constitution’. Several opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Sasikanth Senthil, Chandrashekhar Azad held copies of the Constitution in their hand while taking oath as MPs. 

In response, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution. These are the same people who have imposed Article 356 on innumerable occasions, got a Bill to destroy press freedom, destroyed federalism and violated every aspect of the Constitution.” Although Modi won a third term, his party was only able to form the government with the help of allies. It remains to be seen how he would head a coalition government, with lesser members from his own party than before.

The back-to-back condemnations of Emergency by the BJP isn’t new. The saffron party has continued to use the anti-Emergency narrative as one of its strongest weapons against Congress over the last few decades. In fact, during an interview with the Indian Express, LK Advani, one of the founders of BJP, explained how the party found place in history during the Emergency.  “The Partition was British guilt," he said. "The Emergency is ours.”