Emergency gave rise to new political generation: Modi

The Emergency was the "biggest blow" to the Indian democracy, but it also led to the birth of a new political generation in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.

The political generation born during the Emergency was fully dedicated to the democratic values, inspired by J.P., as Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan was popularly called, the prime minister said in his speech at the Loktantra Prahari Abhinandan to mark the 113th birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan at Vigyan Bhavan here.

"Emergency made a huge dent; it was a setback for India's democratic tradition. But at times, goodness comes out of the bad," Modi said.

"The J.P. movement, the anti-corruption movement, the fight against Emergency after 25 years of Independence was an occasion... Today, the people in political life in India, most of them, are those who were born out of the Emergency," he said.

Modi said that J.P. had the capacity to get some positivity out of the Emergency.

"Emergency should be remembered not to brood over what happened then, but to strenghten our resolve to fortify and further, strengthen the democratic values and framework in our country," he said.

Later, the prime minister tweeted: "The programme to mark JP's birth anniversary was a great walk down the memory lane, with those who participated in anti-Emergency movement."