Congress will never be able to erase taint of Emergency: PM Modi

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked the Emergency period to attack the Congress and the Gandhi family, saying the party strangled democracy by turning the country into a "jailhouse". Participating in the special discussion on the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution, PM Modi said the Congress would never be able to wipe off the taint of the Emergency, a two-year period during which various civil liberties were curtailed.

"The Constitution was torn apart when it was completing 25 years. The Emergency was imposed in 1975, all constitutional rights were snatched, and the country was turned into a jail. All the rights of the citizens were snatched and there was a clampdown on the media. The Congress will never be able to clear this stain," PM Modi said amid sloganeering from the opposition MPs.

PM Modi said "one family" assaulted the Constitution. He also targeted former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, saying the Congress leader wrote to chief ministers that if the Constitution came in the way, it should be changed.

"Seeds sown by Jawaharlal Nehru in changing the Constitution was followed up by Indira Gandhi. Having tasted blood, Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency by misusing the Constitution. Indira Gandhi clipped the wings of courts through Constitutional amendments to capture the judiciary. One family of the Congress did not leave a stone unturned to attack the Constitution. The Congress was so bloodthirsty that it kept bleeding the soul of the Constitution... the Constitution was changed 75 times in six decades," he said.