Congress should apologise for imposing emergency in 1975, says Venkaiah Naidu

Former VP Venkaiah Naidu criticizes Congress for imposing Emergency in 1975, calls for public apology for curtailing civil liberties.

Terming the imposition of Emergency by the Congress government in 1975 as a 'draconian measure', former Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu opined that the grand old party should apologise to the people for curtailing civil liberties during that period.

Read our Indepth Coverage on the 1975 Emergency: The Dark Age of Indian democracy

In an exclusive interview to PTI, Venkaiah Naidu, who was a student union leader while pursuing law in Andhra University in Visakhapatnam during the emergency period, said he had to spend nearly one and a half years in prison for raising his voice against the government of the day.

"It was a draconian measure. They (Congress) should have apologised for it. They should have regretted it. But the Congress never repented or apologised to the people. But they should have regretted imposing the Emergency. Now, on the occasion of the 50th year of emergency, they should express regret publicly," Mr. Naidu said.

"I feel that they should really apologise to people for imposing emergency, for containing civil liberties, for imposing press censorship. And also, all civil liberties were taken away. Right to protest was taken away,” Venkaiah Naidu added.

The former VP said during the Emergency, every newspaper was put under censorship, and Press Council Act was amended too.

Recalling his memories, Mr. Naidu said, in the capacity of chairman of the Students' Union, he invited Jayaprakash Narayan to address the students, for which he was arrested under MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act).