Remarks by Shri L.K. Advani
Leader of the Opposition (Lok Sabha)

At a function to commemorate the
31st anniversary of Emergency
New Delhi - June 25, 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have gathered here to commemorate a very important event in the life of our nation. With the passage of time, the significance of many developments in the past gets dimmed. This is but natural. Even when such events are remembered, it is done more as a formality, as a necessary ritual.

But for all those who cherish democracy, remembrance of the Emergency Rule imposed 31 years ago by the then Congress government, is not a ritual. It is a solemn pledge we take every year, on 25th June, that never again shall we allow the return of this dark period in our national life. Today we renew our commitment never again to let an authoritarian ruler to extinguish the sacred flame of democracy in India.

Through commemorative programmes like these, we seek to educate and re-educate people – especially the younger generation – about what happened during the Emergency, who imposed it, why and how. Our effort is also to let them know who resisted it, why and how.

I am proud that we in the BJP (who were then working in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh), along with the RSS, played an important role in the struggle against the Emergency. Of course, I also recall with great pride and admiration the immense contribution of all other pro-democracy campaigners belonging to other parties and organizations, working together under the venerable leadership of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan.

I must make a special mention here of the outstanding role played by the judiciary and the legal fraternity. They did everything they could to stop the Congress government’s assault on the Constitution and defend the citizens’ fundamental rights.

I also pay tribute to those courageous journalists, editors and newspaper owners who risked a lot to support the mass movement for restoration of democracy.

Friends,

We must know that the clamping of Emergency was not an accident, not a whimsical decision by an unpredictable leader. Two factors contributed to the making of the Emergency mindset in the Congress party.

I shall dwell on both because, even after the passage of three decades, the Congress party’s thinking on both counts has remained unchanged.

In the past years, we have seen many instances of undermining of Constitutional bodies and parliamentary institutions by the UPA government. Governor’s office was blatantly misused in Bihar, Jharkhand and Goa to subvert the mandate of the people.

We have seen recently how the Congress-led government abruptly curtailed Parliament’s budget session in order to introduce an ordinance to save its president from disqualification in the office-of-profit controversy. It is only when the Congress leadership realized the high risk involved in doing so, that it quickly changed its strategy and enacted the “Sacrifice Drama” yet again.

The decision to adjourn Parliament sine-die, without even consulting the presiding officers of the two Houses, demonstrated that the Congress party is even today willing to go to any length to protect the Dynasty.

That the Congress party could not execute its undemocratic strategy shows that democracy-loving forces, led principally by the BJP, are far more powerful in 2006 than they were in 1975. It also shows that anti-democratic forces are far weaker today than they were in 1975.

We must therefore resolve to increase the strength of the former and decrease the strength of the latter in the years to come.

India’s Emergency experience also showed the close link between corruption and dictatorship.

All over the world, dictatorships have tended to be far more corrupt than democracies. Corruption can take place in democracies too. But the institutions of democracy place many checks and balances to curb corruption and to punish the corrupt.

Therefore, those who are prone to corruption and have no genuine faith in democracy always try to subvert the institutions of democracy in order to secure protection for themselves. In extreme cases, they try to banish democracy altogether. This is what they did in 1975.

The JP movement that preceded the declaration of Emergency was principally aimed at exposing corruption in the Congress governments at the Centre and in states.

Around the same time, the judgement of the Allahabad High Court nailed the corrupt electoral practices in the constituency of the Prime Minister herself, and disqualified her membership of Parliament.

The Prime Minister’s response to this gathering challenge to her leadership was to clamp Emergency, suppress independence of the judiciary, muzzle the press, and imprison anybody who dared to voice protest.

As I said earlier, the Opposition is far stronger now than in 1975 and the Congress leadership is far weaker today than in 1975. Nevertheless, the latter’s mentality when it comes to the issue of corruption bears ominous resemblance.

For example, take the three major corruption scandals that have surfaced in the first two years of the UPA government: (a) Quattrocchi scandal (b) Volcker scandal (c) Scorpene submarine scandal.

How the UPA government enslaved the CBI and subverted other institutions of governance to gift Ottavio Quattrocchi, the Italian fugitive, not only freedom but also 20 crore rupees of impounded money in the Bofors scam is brazen beyond words.

In Iraq’s food-for-oil scam, neither the Congress president nor any party office-bearer has so far broken their silence on how the Congress party’s name figured in the Volcker report as one of the recipients of slush money. No less a person than the country’s former external affairs minister, whose name also figured in the report, has publicly complained that he has been made a scapegoat. Shri Natwar Singh has pointedly asked why no one from the Congress party has been questioned in the scandal.

The last of the three scandals – the Scorpene submarine scandal and the related scandal of the “War Room Leak” in naval headquarters -- has now resurfaced with a bang. On Friday, the CBI conducted simultaneous raids at 19 places in New Delhi and three other cities. Several serving and retired Navy and Army officers, and also bureaucrats in the ministry of defense, have been named. This is very ominous.

More importantly, the CBI has also raided the offices and farmhouse of a well-known businessman who, according to in-depth media investigation so far, is the mastermind both in the ‘War Room Leak’ case and also in the Scorpene submarine deal.

I welcome the CBI’s action. Though belated, it has vindicated the stand taken by the National Democratic Alliance in this matter.

We had charged that the government was guilty of a cover-up. We are proved right by the murky details that are now surfacing week after week.

All along, the government maintained on the one hand that there was nothing serious about the leakage of secrets from the naval headquarters. On the other hand, both the government and the Congress party continued to insist that the “War Room Leak” had nothing to do with the Scorpene deal. Now, the CBI itself has confirmed that the ‘War Room Leak’ is part of a “much larger conspiracy” impinging on vital aspects of India’s national security.

In the wake of the CBI raids, I demand categorical answers from the government on the following pertinent questions:

I would like the Prime Minister to break his silence in this matter.

Friends,

Today, as we remember the nightmarish period in the life of independent India, let us rededicate ourselves to the mission of preserving and further enriching our democratic system and our democratic way of life. A very important part of this mission is to strengthen the fight against corruption and also against that mindset in a section of our political class which places self-preservation above the rule of law.

Thank you.