Brief by Shorts91 NewsDesk / 07:43am on 10 Jul 2025,Thursday Politics
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, in a forceful op‑ed marking the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, warns that India’s democracy was critically undermined when Indira Gandhi suspended civil liberties between June 1975–March 1977. He highlights the incarceration of journalists, activists, opposition leaders, judicial submission including suspension of habeas corpus and “horrifying” human‑rights abuses: torture, extrajudicial killings, forced vasectomies and slum demolitions orchestrated by Sanjay Gandhi. Tharoor stresses that today’s India is stronger, but must heed lessons: protect freedom of information, ensure an independent judiciary, and resist executive overreach. He cautions that unchecked power, even with parliamentary majority, threatens democratic norms. The Emergency, he concludes, remains a stark reminder that democracy is precious and fragile. (PC: News18 & BBC)
