'How was emergency overthrown': Shashi Tharoor hits back at BJP's regime change charge

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) allegation that the protests against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls were aimed at forcing a “regime change”, citing the Opposition's unity that led to the defeat of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's government after the Emergency.

Speaking at an interactive session at the NDTV World Summit, Tharoor recalled how political parties with different ideologies had come together to challenge the Congress government following the Emergency, which was imposed in 1975.

“(PM Narendra) Modi does keep talking about the Emergency and how the Emergency was overthrown. How was it overthrown? Through an Opposition, where the RSS and the BJP were merging with socialists and leftists. They all united in order to defeat the government that had declared the Emergency. That's recent Indian political history, just half a century ago,” he said.

Tharoor was referring to the defeat of Indira Gandhi's Congress government in the 1977 general election, when opposition parties came together under the Janata Party banner.

The Congress leader also rejected suggestions that protests in India could turn violent, drawing a distinction between democratic demonstrations and the unrest witnessed in France.

“I think the line is very clearly drawn by our Constitution, by our laws. It is that peaceful protest is the democratic right of every Indian citizen; violence is not,” he said.

“What we've seen happening in France is not something that anybody in India's political space would condone. I don't, and I don't think my party in any way would welcome (violence),” he added.

Tharoor Calls For Accountability Over SIR

Tharoor said the Congress supported peaceful and disciplined protests against alleged irregularities in the SIR process. He maintained that electoral reforms could be achieved if the government and the Election Commission were willing to answer questions about the process.

“We (the Congress) believe in peaceful, organised, and disciplined protest. At the same time, we expect that if we can actually find the government, and the Election Commission as well, willing to be accountable for the deep irregularities (in) the SIR process in the last couple of years, then we believe there will once again be a clean system,” he said.

He argued that the objective should be to restore electoral safeguards and ensure that every eligible Indian citizen could exercise their constitutional right to vote.

“The electoral rules will be restored, no Indian citizen will be deprived of their constitutional right to cast their vote and determine their own political choices, and in a free and fair election there will not be 'regime change'; there will be government change,” Tharoor said.

“The Indian public has seen the inadequacies of the present government, but we want to bring that (change) about through free and fair elections,” he added.

Tharoor Backs Opposition Unity, Praises Neha Bora

Tharoor's remarks came amid a debate over the nature and objectives of the protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the alleged irregularities in the electoral roll revision exercise.

Earlier, All India Students' Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora had praised Bangladesh's Gen-Z movement, describing it as an “inspiration” for young people in India. Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan had also said that the protests against Kumar had turned into a “fight for regime change”.

Asked how the Congress could work with Left parties, including AISA, while contesting against them in Kerala and other places, Tharoor pointed to Bora's role in the protests.

“These parties have their value, but Neha Bora wasn't campaigning against us. I like her; she's brought a lot of energy, colour, and life into the protest, the movement. It's about the Congress party being a moderate party and about acceptance. It's Opposition unity,” he said.

Tharoor's remarks underlined the Congress's position that opposition parties can set aside their political differences to raise concerns over electoral processes while seeking a change of government through peaceful protests and free and fair elections.

(With IANS inputs)