Prevailing atmosphere far worse than 1975 Emergency: Yashwant Sinha
New Delhi, June 26: Former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday called prevalent atmosphere in the country "far worse" than the period of Emergency, imposed by the then Congress government between 1975 and 1977.
Speaking to NDTV news channel, Sinha contended that the Emergency is too far back in history now to be made an issue and to capitalise on by the ruling BJP for the upcoming elections.
"Emergency as imposed and then lifted in this country some 43 years ago, the modern generation does not have any recollection of emergency. It is history for them.
"And more importantly, (then Prime Minister) Indira Gandhi was personally punished for imposing emergency in this country when she lost the 1977 election so badly. You can't revive that (debate on it) today... It is part of our history now," said the estranged Bharatiya Janata Party leader.
He said though the leaders of the opposition parties are not put behind bars now as they had been during the 21-month long Emergency period, what prevails now in the country is far worse.
"While nobody has been put behind bars as in 1975, there is still an all pervasive atmosphere of fear, people are scared, people are scared to talk. Even cabinet ministers are not spared. The situation is far worse than it was in the declared Emergency of Indira Gandhi," he said.
Even media, Sinha said, is in "direct line of fire" under the current government as a consequence of which "many senior honest journalists have lost their jobs".
"Today the situation is very bad. Media is giving a totally misleading picture... (It's) completely subdued and made to toe the line," he said.
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Stalin accuses Centre of trying to use women's quota as 'weapon,' slams EPS over delimitation
Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has strongly criticised the Centre over the women's reservation and accused it of trying to use it as a "weapon" to tackle the opposition before taking up the delimitation exercise based on population.
"The Union government is not concerned about implementing reservations for women. If their concerns were genuine, they could have done it right away. Rather than doing that, the BJP-led Centre is thinking of using it as a weapon to tackle opposition and take up the delimitation exercise based on population," he told PTI in an interview.
"Hence, the women's reservation must be implemented immediately without showing delimitation as a reason," the DMK president added.
Expressing apprehensions on the proposed delimitation exercise, the CM said it was the DMK that raised the first voice asserting the rights of the state after realising that Tamil Nadu would be affected by the proposed exercise. He also attacked his rival and AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami over the delimitation issue.
Recalling efforts made by the DMK to raise the issue of population-based delimitation, he said an all-party meeting and a meeting of CMs under the auspices of the Joint Action Committee seeking fair delimitation were convened. It sought to freeze delimitation for 25 years and stick to it based on the 1971 Census population.
"We urged the union government that states which successfully implemented population control programmes must not be punished," he added.
The party came up with "Tamil Nadu poradum, Tamil Nadu vellum" (Tamil Nadu will struggle, Tamil Nadu will win) and this is DMK's stand, he said.
"However, Palaniswami, who is seeking votes for the entry of the BJP through the backdoor, has till date been mute over delimitation, and this is a betrayal of the people of Tamil Nadu."
