Railway minister goes on Emergency’s ‘teen dalal’ trip

Mumbai: Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu on Monday rubbished rumours that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was sponsoring filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar’s forthcoming movie, Indu Sarkar, which is set against the Emergency period.

Taking a dig at the Congress, Mr Prabhu invoked an infamous slogan in Mumbai on Monday. “Emergency ke teen dalal — Indira Sanjay aur Bansi Lal was the slogan of that time,” Mr Prabhu said. He was speaking at an event organised by the BJP’s Mumbai wing on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of emergency. Mr Prabhu said that the Emergency (1975-77) imposed by late Prime Minister Indira was the darkest period in Independent India.

Reacting to an allegation made by Congress member of Parliament Jyotiraditya Scindia that Indu Sarkar is a “sponsored” movie, Mr Prabhu said, “The BJP does not produce, write or direct movies.”

Recently, Mr Scindia had said: “We all know which person and organisations are behind this. We condemn the false depiction.”

The railway minister rubbished claims of the opposition that the country was going through an ‘undeclared emergency’ under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. “It is a false accusation against the BJP. We want to keep the Indian media completely free from any restrictions,” Mr Prabhu said. Of late, the BJP has been under attack for constantly raking up the Emergency period and muzzling the media. However, Mr Prabhu rubbished these accusations. “Look at the social media, the way it has been promoted under the BJP government. One cannot make such allegations against us. Tomorrow someone will ask why we celebrate Independence Day?” he said.

On Sunday, Mr Modi had mentioned about the Emergency days in his radio programme Man Ki Bat. He had termed night of June 25, 1975 as a “dark night. “Not only is democracy a system, but also a sanskar. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. One needs to be constantly alert about our democracy that is why we must also keep remembering the events that inflicted harm upon our democracy. At the same time move ahead, carrying forward the virtues of democracy. It was a dark night (June 25, 1975) that no devotee of democracy can ever forget. No Indian can ever forget,” the PM had said in his radio speech.