BENGALURU: Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday lashed out at the Modi government saying that an Emergency-like situation prevails in the country.
He was taking part in a seminar on Emergency and its imposition, at Gandhi Bhavan on Tuesday. It was organised by the Lokanayaka J P Vichara Vedike-Karnataka and United Lawyers Forum, Bengaluru, to mark the anniversary of the declaration of Emergency by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Referring to the media coverage of Modi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump, Gowda said, “Modi is a tool of America. The corporate sector has taken control of the media.”
He also said the demonetisation move had created a crisis-like situation in the country.Lashing out at the BJP for using other parties and discarding them away later, Gowda said “BJP joined hands with Ramakrishna Hegde in the past to take advantage of his stature and clout. Later, they left him in the lurch.”
He added, “In Karnataka, they used V Srinivas Prasad’s clout in Nanjangud bypoll recently. There
are numerous such instances of BJP using other parties.”
Centres to highlight Emergency
Michael Fernandes, trade union leader and brother of former Union minister George Fernandes, called for setting up of centres in all districts across the country to highlight the events that took place during the Emergency which, he said, marked “our second freedom struggle.”
Writer and dalit activist Kotiganahalli Ramaiah called for an end to the “steroid Hindutva” being displayed in the country. JD (U) leader M P Nadagouda said, “Emergency depressed all of us, both within the jail and those outside.” Author Chandrashekhar Patil (ChamPa) said that in the dalit Vs dalit fight for Presidency, Ram Nath Kovind represented caste discrimination and supression of religious freedom while Meira Kumar represented humanism and democracy.