'Better late than never,' say BJP leaders as Rahul Gandhi terms Emergency 'a Mistake'

Nearly five decades after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in India in a move that has gone down in history as one of the country's darkest chapters, her grandson and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday admitted that the Emergency imposed in the country was a 'Mistake' and her actions were 'wrong'. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took a dig at the former Congress President's remark over Emergency and said he thinks it is very late as it took him so many years to realise it. 

"The problem with Rahul Gandhi is that he thinks very late, that too after so many years. I also went to jail during the Emergency in 1975 and I was a child then. Now when he gave the statement I am 61. Although better late than never," said Chouhan.

He tweeted in Hindi, "After so many years of Emergency, Rahul Gandhi realised that what happened then was wrong. At present, he keeps making stupid comments on PM Narendra Modi, after many years his tube light will light up and then he will again have to apologize for today's mistake".

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BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya also tweeted in Hindi, "Rahul Gandhi admitted the truth by calling his grandmother Indira Gandhi's decision of imposing an Emergency to be wrong. His confession made many things clear. Rahul Gandhi, Congress has made many more mistakes in its rule, pay attention to them in the interest of the country".

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Rahul Gandhi Terms Indira-imposed Emergency 'a Mistake'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday admitted that the 'Emergency' imposed by his grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975 was a “mistake” and what happened over the next 21 months was “wrong”. The Congress MP also said that the Emergency period - during which constitutional rights and civil liberties were suspended, the media was severely restricted and many Opposition leaders were imprisoned - was "fundamentally different from the current scenario."

"I think that was a mistake. Absolutely, that was a mistake. And my grandmother (Indira Gandhi) said as much. (But) the Congress at no point attempted to capture India's institutional framework... frankly, it does not even have that capability. Our (the Congress') design does not allow us (to do)," he said during a virtual conversation with renowned economist Kaushik Basu. 

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