BJP raking up past as fear of defeat in 2019 haunting it: Ahmed Patel

Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's description of Emergency as the Congress's sin, senior leader of the opposition party Ahmed Patel today said the fear of defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was haunting the BJP. An "undeclared emergency" was prevailing in the country for the past four years, Patel told reporters here.

"After four years, the fear of losing the 2019 election is haunting the government and hence, they (BJP) are trying to take refuge in the events of the 1975 Emergency," he said.

"The fact is that after 1977, Indira Gandhi had apologised, corrected her mistakes and the people of India had voted her back to power," Patel added.

"Will the BJP apologise for the undeclared emergency of the last four years? People are being lynched and threatened, government agencies are being misused and economic and civil liberties are being curtailed," the Congress leader said.

"They (BJP) fear that the Congress is coming back to power once again," he added.

Dalits, tribals, OBCs and other marginalised sections of the society were facing the worst kind of suppression in the BJP-ruled states, Patel alleged.

Modi targeted the Gandhi family earlier today, saying the Emergency was a "sin" of the Congress party.

"Emergency was a black spot on democracy. Marking its anniversary as black day (today) is not just to criticise the Congress for its sin of imposing Emergency, but also to make the present and future generations aware of what had transpired and to learn lessons to protect the Constitution and democracy," the prime minister said.