Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, while speaking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new book ‘The Emergency Diaries – Years that Forged a Leader’, shared instances of PM Modi’s covert operations while disguising himself as “sadhu, sardar, hippie incense stick seller and newspaper vendor” in his struggle against the emergency during 1975
Amit Shah recalled PM Modi’s struggle during the emergency, noting that the PM visited the Maintenance of Internal Security Act arrestees and arranged for their medical treatment.
Amit Shah also shared that the PM helped in the distribution of the secret newspapers resisting the emergency.
“PM Modi’s book ‘The Emergency Diaries: Year that forged our leaders’, was launched. It is about PM Modi, a young worker who participated in the movement for 19 months. PM Modi visited MISA arrestees’ homes and arranged their medical treatment. A lot of secret newspapers used to be published at that time,” Amit Shah said.
“PM Modi distributed those newspapers among markets, students and women and led a struggle in Gujarat at the age of 24-25… The entire story is in this book, PM Modi worked on the ground as a Sadhu, Sardarji, hippie, incense stick seller or a newspaper vendor to make the other work possible,” Amit Shah added.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah called PM Modi’s triumph over Congress in last 2014 Lok Sabha election a “divine justice” crediting him of “uprooting the reason for which emergency was imposed; Dynasty politics.”
“Look at how the divine justice takes place. A 25-year-old boy (PM Modi) opposed Indira Gandhi’s dictatorship. Today, that same person, in 2014, uprooted the reason for which the emergency was imposed: Dynasty Politics,” Amit Shah said.
“The youth who struggled against the dictatorship is now strengthening the roots of democracy in this country,” he added.
‘The Emergency Diaries – Years that Forged a Leader’ book published by BlueKraft is based on first-person anecdotes from associates who worked with young Modi, and using other archival material, the book is a first of its kind that creates new scholarship on the formative years of a young man who would give it his all in the fight against tyranny.
Earlier, the Prime Minister took to X to write a series of posts.
“‘The Emergency Diaries’ chronicles my journey during the Emergency years. It brought back many memories from that time. I call upon all those who remember those dark days of the Emergency or those whose families suffered during that time to share their experiences on social media. It will create awareness among the youth of the shameful time from 1975 to 1977.” PM Modi posted on X.
He recalled how, for a young RSS Pracharak, the anti-Emergency movement was a learning experience. “It reaffirmed the vitality of preserving our democratic framework. At the same time, I got to learn so much from people across the political spectrum. I am glad that BlueKraft Digital Foundation has compiled some of those experiences in the form of a book, whose foreword has been penned by Shri HD Deve Gowda Ji, himself a stalwart of the anti-Emergency movement,” PM Modi said. (ANI)
