Vajpayee condemns Congress for defending Emergency

Vajpayee, who arrived here this morning to address a string of public meetings, issued a written statement which was distributed to reporters. In it, he expressed 8220;shock8221; at the Congress8217;s defence of the Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi in 1975. He said the fact that the Congress leadership had not issued a clarification after its official spokesman had justified the Emergency, showed that the party shared this view. The Emergency, Vajpayee said, was a blot on Indian democracy. It hadn8217;t been imposed because of a threat to the country, but because the court had threatened the party8217;s power. This indicated, he said, that the Congress wouldn8217;thesitate to repeat 1975.

He said the Congress was making a 8220;grave mistake in believing that people had forgotten this dark chapter in modern Indian history8221;, when civil liberties were snatched away, the press was muzzled and the 8220;entire country became a prison house.8221;

On the issue of price rise, Vajpayee said he had called a meeting of Chief Ministers on November 27. There was a suggestion, he said, to make the Essential Commodities Act stronger, so that it could be used whenever there was a shortage.

When asked to respond to Congress president Sonia Gandhi8217;s charge that he was a 8220;weak8221; Prime Minister, Vajpayee said, 8220;I act, I don8217;t react.8221;Asked whether Home Minister L K Advani8217;s statements would help improve Indo-Pak relations, Vajpayee said that Advani hadn8217;t said anything which didn8217;t figure in the bilateral talks. He said that terrorism, infiltration of mercenaries, help to terrorists from across the border and the discovery of huge stocks of RDXeverything had been raised by New Delhi at thetalks.

On the composition of the National Security Council, Vajpayee said that he didn8217;t agree that the council has tried to marginalise the role of the three service chiefs. Their views were vital while formulating defence policy, he said.

On Romesh Sharma, Vajpayee said that the Congress was trying to give it a political twist. He said that he had information that the Congress planned to release a 8220;forged poster8221; showing him with Delhi Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj and Sharma.