Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that a new political generation was born with the JP movement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi honoured 16 persons, including Subramanian Swamy and four sitting governors, for stoutly “defending democracy” during the Emergency era on the birth anniversary of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan on Sunday.
”Many people in politics today owe their initial days to those days of Emergency and the JP movement,” said the Prime Minister who paid rich tributes to Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan on his 113 birth anniversary.
The political generation born during the Emergency was fully dedicated to democratic values, inspired by JP, the Prime Minister said while speaking at Loktantra Prahari Abhinandan in Vigyan Bhavan here.
He said that “when we remember likes of Gandhi-ji, JP, Nanaji (Deshmukh), we always think about integrating the villages of India”
Modi also praised Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal Sahab calling him the ‘Nelson Mandela of India.’ Modi said that people like Badal spent so many years in prison for political reasons. He said that Badal suffered becuase his political views different from those in power.
Modi also praised Lal Krishna Advani, who was also present at the occasion. Modi said that he saw Advani closely during the Emergency.
Talking about JP, Modi said that he was a person with an open mind. He was not restricted to one thought or ideology. He lived for the truth & what he felt was right. Modi said that the Emergency should not be only an event to be looked with sadness but also an event that strengthened democracy.
Senior party leader Lal Krishna Advani and Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal also participated in the felicitation programme ‘Loktantra Ke Prahari’ in which the Prime Minister felicitated those who fought against Emergency and went to jail.
BJP plans to celebrate JP’s anniversary as ‘Save Democracy Day’ in a big way across the country and highlight his role in opposing Emergency including in his home state Bihar. The move is being seen as a bid to embarrass JD(U) and RJD for aligning with Congress.
16 persons will be honoured by the Prime Minister at the event being organised by Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash Narayan Jayanti Utsav Samiti in Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi. The government said, “They are being honoured for stoutly defending democracy and the rights of the people guaranteed by the Constitution of India during the dark period of Emergency between 1975 and 1977.”
Others to be honoured are former Governor Bhai Mahaveer, NCP leader D P Tripathy, senior BJP leaders Karia Munda, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, former Union Minister Jayawantiben Mehta, journalists Virendra Kapoor, Rambahadur Rai and Kotamraju Vikram Rao, Gandhian professor Ramji Singh, Eswar das Mahajan and Kameshwar Paswan.