NEW DELHI: In a sharp attack on Congress, Union minister Arun Jaitley on Monday suggested that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi may have been inspired by German dictator Adolf Hitler in suspending democracy in 1975 by imposing Emergency on a manufactured pretext. In a blog to mark the 43rd anniversary of Emergency, Jaitley said there were striking parallels + between the way Indira suspended fundamental rights and persecuted political opponents and the manner in which Hitler installed himself as the sole ruler in Germany.
“Both Hitler and Mrs Gandhi never abrogated the Constitution. They used a republican Constitution to transform democracy into dictatorship,” he wrote. “Arun Jaitley writes about the dark days of the Emergency, the trampling of personal liberties, excesses committed and how the Emergency was a direct attack on our constitutional ideals. Do read his blogs,” PM Modi tweeted.