Weighing the impact of Emergency on India’s foreign policy, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday that Indian fishermen have been arrested by the Sri Lankan officials due to an agreement made by the then government with the neighboring country.
“At that time, many major decisions will be made without any debate. These days, there is a discussion about our fishermen going to Sri Lanka and being arrested.
Jaishankar’s statement came at a time when the DMK government in Tamil Nadu has repeatedly written to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), raising the concerns about the issue, demanding the center intervention to protect the life and livelihood of Indian fishermen.
According to government data, Sri Lanka arrested more than 528 Indian fishermen in 2024.
“If it was not for an emergency parliament, if Parliament was a real Parliament at that time, I would have a debate and I don’t know if Parliament would have allowed such an agreement,” he said, “The decisions of that time still show their impact in the state of Tamil Nadu.”
The state is expected to go to elections early next year.
Jaishankar was addressing the inaugural session of a fake parliament organized by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morch, during which he also recalled that during the Emergency, the opposition side of the Parliament was vacant as the leaders were jailed.
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On the 50th anniversary of the implementation of the Emergency, Jaishankar targeted the Congress on Friday, stating that the interests of a family were placed over the nation. “All this happened due to a family … there is a film called ‘Kisa Kursi Ka’ … These three words give the reason behind imposing emergency. When a family is considered above the nation, there are things like emergency,” said Jaishankar.
He said that at that time, he was a 20 -year -old student at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the biggest lesson from the Emergency was that never took any freedom. “During the Emergency, the opposition side of the Parliament was vacant. The leaders were put in jail. It would never happen. I want to tell you what is the biggest lesson from the Emergency: Never take my freedom. I was 20 years old. I was 20 years old. When the Emergency was imposed, I was in JNU. I didn’t think about Emergency.
He said that the Emergency was imposed to “break the morale of the country and society”. “Many people, who were not even in politics, were impressed. Those who were in politics knew well that doing politics meant an indispensable arrest, and those who were arrested were unaware of what and when they would be released,” Jeshankar said.
Jaishankar said that 48 ordinances were passed during the emergency period, followed by five amendments. He said that the 38th amendment was about the declaration of Emergency, and the 39th was on challenging the Prime Minister’s election in the court.
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“During the Emergency, 48 ordinances were passed. Just imagine, in two years, 48 ordinances and five amendments. Three of these amendments were particularly important. There was a 38th amendment, stating that you could not challenge the declaration of emergency in the court. The courts,” he said.
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