Current political setup worse than Emergency,says Advani

I have always regarded the Emergency period,1975-77,as the worst in so far as suppression of civil liberties and freedom of expression were concerned. But seeing what has happened to political cartoonist and anti-corruption crusader Aseem Trivedi,I have started wondering: Is todays political set up worse even than the Emergency? Aseem Trivedi has been arrested,and charged with sedition,an offence punishable with life imprisonment! Advani wrote in his blog post on Wednesday.

Advanis analogy drew a public disagreement expressed by Yadav,who said that comparing Trivedi episode with Emergency would be an injustice,and suggested that it was improper to compare Emergency with everything now and then.

This is a hyperbole. Freedom of expression was put to real threat during the Emergency when the media was muzzled and 1.5 lakh persons,including politicians,were jailed. One has to really wonder what is it that was not banned during the Emergency. To compare it with any other thing,in my opinion,is injustice, Yadav said.

I do not consider it proper to compare Emergency with everything every now and then, he added.