File photo of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
Lashing out at the Trinamool Congress for bringing in an "unofficial Emergency" in West Bengal, the BJP leadership equated the functioning of Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi with the functioning of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek.
"The condition in West Bengal during elections was just like as if an unofficial Emergency was on in Bengal. The way opposition party workers were beaten up and violence was let loose during the elections here, it was sign of an unofficial Emergency in Bengal," Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (Independent Charge) Prakash Javadekar said on Friday.
"If the state government tries to impose an unofficial Emergency, then it will also face the same results that Indira Gandhi and Congress party had faced in the 1977 elections," he said.
Mr Javadekar also took a dig at the West Bengal government for allowing newspapers run by Saradha Group in the public libraries of the state.
"This is also an undeclared Emergency. When I came here a few months back, I was told it was the state government which allowed only newspapers run by the Saradha Group in public libraries," he claimed.
BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said the functioning of Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi was similar to that of Mamata and her nephew, Abhishek.
"The environment of intimidation and sycophancy that surrounded Indira Gandhi and the Congress then, is similar to that of the Mamata Banerjee regime.
"The way Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek is performing, is an echo of what Indira Gandhi did during the Emergency. An unofficial Emergency is on in West Bengal where democratic rights are being curbed," Singh said.
The BJP today organised a Black Day protest rally to observe 40 years of implementation of Emergency in India in 1975.