BJP slams Congress' 'Emergency mindset'

NEW DELHI: BJP Thursday accused Congress of continuing to display "Emergency mindset" of 1975, claiming that Rahul Gandhi's protest in Bihar Wednesday against Election Commission's roll revision reflected a belief that constitutional institutions' legitimacy depends on the party's electoral success.

BJP national spokesman Sudhanshu Trivedi said, "Rahul Gandhi's remarks during the protest suggest he believes that constitutional bodies are credible only if his party wins elections. Generations have changed, but not the mindset".

Trivedi also criticised Congress functionaries for targeting senior MP Shashi Tharoor who, in an opinion piece, called the 1975 Emergency a "dark chapter in Indian democracy" and noted that voters had responded to its excesses by voting Indira Gandhi out of power.

In response, Congress MP Manickam Tagore took a swipe at Tharoor, posting on X: "When a colleague starts repeating BJP lines word for word, you begin to wonder - is the bird becoming a parrot? Mimicry is cute in birds, not in politics".

Trivedi said the criticism of Tharoor shows that "even after 50 years, some Congress functionaries shamelessly justify the Emergency and the mindset behind it (sic)". The Emergency was imposed after Indira Gandhi's election was nullified by the judiciary, with the party viewing constitutional institutions through the lens of political expediency, he added.

Speaking on EC's special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, Rahul had alleged in Patna that BJP was using the "Maharashtra model" of manipulating electoral rolls for the upcoming Bihar elections.