Decode Politics: Why is the BJP talking of Emergency again?

Under attack from the Opposition over alleged attempts to “change the Constitution”, the BJP has fallen back on the Emergency card.

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the 18th Session of the Lok Sabha with a mention of the Emergency. On Tuesday, marking the start of the 50th year of its imposition by the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government, the BJP held programmes across the country and its leaders issued statements targeting the Congress on the issue.

Several leaders who were at the forefront of the anti-Emergency agitation are now part of the INDIA bloc. While Lalu Prasad of the RJD is an integral part of INDIA, so is Akhilesh Yadav, whose father and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav was jailed along with Lalu during the Emergency.

This means that the BJP sees itself as the only party that has been consistently opposed to the Congress, starting from the JP Movement of 1974-75 against Indira Gandhi, leading up to the clamping of the Emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution.

The Congress has repeatedly accused the RSS of raising only Hindutva issues but never those crucial to citizens as a collective. It has also accused the Sangh Parivar of not having a role in the freedom struggle, unlike its own rich history of participation in it.

It is here that the Emergency comes as an answer as the RSS and its affiliates, be it the Jana Sangh or ABVP, are all active against it. Countless leaders and workers of these organisations went to jail, including LK Advani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Arun Jaitley. Nanaji Deshmukh of the Jana Sangh was among the most intrepid fighters for civil liberties during the JP Movement, and took on lathis to shield Jaya Prakash Narayan during a protest in Patna in late