The Congress on Thursday claimed that a special session of Parliament is being considered for June 25-26 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, and said this will be yet another classic exercise in "diversion and distraction" from real and more urgent issues by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that at a time when the BJP should be targeting Pakistan and terrorists, it is only interested in attacking the Congress.
Ramesh said that from the night of April 22nd itself, the Indian National Congress has been calling for an all-party meeting on the Pahalgam terror attack and its fallout to be chaired by the PM himself.
That has yet to take place, he said.
"On May 10th, both the LoP in the Lok Sabha and the LoP in the Rajya Sabha wrote to the PM requesting for a special session of Parliament to be convened and to demonstrate the nation's collective resolve through a resolution. The PM has NOT accepted that suggestion as well," Ramesh said in a post on X.
"Now it appears that a special session of Parliament is being considered for June 25-26 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Emergency," Ramesh claimed.
There was no immediate response from the government or the BJP.
The Congress leader said, "This will be yet another classic exercise in diversion and distraction from real and more urgent issues by the PM - the man who has placed the nation under an undeclared Emergency for 11 years and the man who refuses to answer why the Pahalgam terrorists are still absconding, why he allowed President Trump to broker a ceasefire, and why he gave a clean chit to China publicly on June 19th, 2020?" Later, speaking with PTI, Ramesh said instead of talking about the present issues and challenges, they want to discuss what happened 50 years ago.
He also reiterated the demand that a special session be called and the resolution of February 1994 on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir be reiterated and updated in view of India and Pakistan both becoming nuclear powers and new challenges having emerged, especially the "jugalbandi" that has been formed between Pakistan and China.
He also asked why the terrorists of the Pahalgam terror attack have not been caught.
"When they should be targeting Pakistan and terrorists, the BJP is only interested in targeting and attacking the Congress," Ramesh said.
On June 25, 1975, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, a Congress stalwart, had imposed Emergency in the country, suspending civil liberties, jailing opposition leaders and dissidents and effecting press censorship.
The Congress, meanwhile, has been asking Prime Minister Modi to break his "silence" on the Trump administration's repeated claims on how the India-Pakistan "ceasefire" was brought about.
The US President has been repeatedly claiming that he helped settle the tensions between India and Pakistan.
India carried out precision strikes under Operation Sindoor on terror infrastructure early on May 7 in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
Following the Indian action, Pakistan attempted to attack Indian military bases on May 8, 9 and 10. The Indian forces launched a fierce counter-attack on several Pakistani military installations.
India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the military confrontation after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.
On May 10, US President Donald Trump had claimed that India and Pakistan agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire after a long night of talks "mediated" by Washington.
