‘Emergency era mindset’ is alive in INDIA parties, says Nadda

J.P. Nadda accuses INDIA bloc of “Emergency-era mindset”, says they should focus on constructive work instead. He claims Congress has a history of bullying media, curtailing free speech and imposing Emergency

BJP president J.P. Nadda on Thursday accused the INDIA bloc parties of having an “Emergency era mindset”, a day after the Opposition alliance decided to draw up a list of TV anchors whose shows would be boycotted by their representatives.

“The Emergency era mindset is alive among these parties,” Mr. Nadda said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “I.N.D.I Alliance should stop their antics immediately. They should instead focus on constructive work and serving people. Else, the path to obscurity will get even clearer,” he added.

While briefing the media after the INDIA bloc’s coordination committee meeting on Wednesday, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal had said that the alliance’s constituents had authorised the sub-group on media to decide upon the names of the anchors for whose shows none of the Opposition alliance members would send their representatives.

“These days, the I.N.D.I Alliance is only doing two things: Bashing Sanatan Sanskriti [and] bullying the media,” Mr. Nadda said, adding that each party in the Opposition alliance was “competing to outdo the other” in “hurling the choicest abuses” towards Sanatan Sanskriti.

“Bullying the media — filing FIRs, threatening individual journalists, making lists in true Nazi style of who to target,” he added.

The BJP chief claimed that the history of the Congress had “many instances” of bullying the media and silencing those with differing views. “Pandit Nehru curtailed free speech and arrested those who criticised him. Indira [Gandhi] Ji remains the Gold Medal winner of how to do it — called for committed judiciary, committed bureaucracy and imposed the horrific Emergency,” he charged.

“Rajiv [Gandhi] Ji tried to bring the media under state control but failed miserably,” he alleged, adding that the “Sonia [Gandhi]-led UPA” was banning social media handles “simply because the Congress did not like their views.”