NEW DELHI: Congress leader on Tuesday termed the Emergency imposed by his grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi a “mistake” and said what happened during that period was “wrong”.
“I think that was a mistake. Absolutely, that was a mistake. And my grandmother (Indira Gandhi) said as much,” Rahul Gandhi said while speaking to Kaushik Basu, professor in the Cornell University in the US and India’s former chief economic advisor, according to news agency PTI.
The Emergency was imposed by Indira Gandhi for a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977, when curbs were imposed on the fundamental rights of citizens.
“The Congress party at no point attempted to capture India’s institutional framework and frankly, the Congress party does not even have that capability. Our design does not allow us that and even if we want, we cannot do it,” he said.
The former Congress chief further said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is doing something “fundamentally different”.
“RSS is filling institutions with their people. Even if we defeat BJP in the election, we are not going to get rid of their people in the institutional structure,” he said.
(With agency inputs)