PM Modi: Leadership born in Emergency was not for TV Screens

New Delhi, Oct 11: Many people in politics today owe their initial days to those days of Emergency and the JP movement when “a new political generation was born”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi who paid rich tributes to Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan on his 113 birth anniversary.

The political generation born during the Emergency was fully dedicated to democratic values, inspired by J.P., the prime minister said while speaking at Loktantra Prahari Abhinandan in Vigyan Bhavan here.

“So many people in politics today owe their initial days to those days of Emergency and the JP movement. A new political generation was born,” Modi added.

He said that “when we remember likes of Gandhi-ji, J.P., Nanaji (Deshmukh), we always think about integrating the villages of India”. Earlier, he met former PM Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee & former Union Minister Shri George Fernandes.

Here are the Excerpts from Modi’s Speech:

* Today I met George Sahib. I went to meet Atal ji and I sought their blessings.

* When we remember likes of Gandhi ji, JP, Nanaji, we always think about integrating the villages of India.

* JP Movement, Navnirman Movement, Emergency…they gave birth to a new kind of politics in the nation.

* So many people in politics today owe their initial days to those days of Emergency, JP Movement. A new political generation was born.

* The political generation born during the Emergency was fully dedicated to democratic values, inspired by JP.

* Badal Sahab is sitting here…he is the Nelson Mandela of India. He has spent so many years in prison & that too for political reasons. What was the crime of people like Badal Sahab? Only that he had political views different from those in power.

* Saw Advani ji closely during the Emergency. He was in a jail in Bengaluru. Had received him at the airport.

* JP was a person with an open mind. He was not restricted to one thought or ideology. He lived for the truth & what he felt was right.

* Got to work with Subramanian Swamy. We decided people will go overseas & talk about the true picture during the Emergency.

* We need not cry while remembering Emergency. Lets talk about how the anti-Emergency movement strengthened democracy.

* In 1977 polls, top leadership was in jail. No one knew what was happening but see the strength of people & their respect for democracy.

* Leadership born during Emergency was not one for TV screens. It was a leadership to live and die for the Nation.