Congress yet to come out of mindset of Emergency: Pradhan

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today said the Congress was still finding it difficult to "shed" the mindset of the Emergency era.

"The Congress party is leaving no stone unturned to humiliate the Prime Minister. Why it is doing so, just because the party has lost power... Though the Congress lost power but it is becoming quite difficult for it to shed the mindset, which brought the Emergency (in the country)," Pradhan said.

The minister, while addressing a function here, said the Congress is projecting the Independence struggle in a manner in which it seems that only one family fought for it.

Speaking on the occasion, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi claimed that around "three-four lakh people", including top Opposition leaders, were put behind bars during the Emergency.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unleashed a stinging attack on the Congress party, saying its "mad devotion" to the Gandhi family had turned the country into a jail during the Emergency, and 43 years later the party's psyche of sycophancy had still not changed.

Congress immediately hit back and equated Modi to Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, saying the prime minister has "enslaved democracy" during the 49 months he's been in power.