Naidu accuses Sharma of "defending" Emergency

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today accused Congress leader Anand Sharma of "defending" the Emergency.
Hours after Sharma made remarks about Indira Gandhi losing power after the Emergency era and then storming back to power in 1980, Naidu tweeted, "Surprised and shocked over by my friend Anand Sharma defending emergency on the very day. When we are paying tribute to founding fathers of the Constitution and reaffirm our faith to Constitution in Rajya Sabha."
"Sharma is a senior leader and in my view he is representing Congress party views," Naidu said on Twitter.
Earlier participating in the Upper House in the debate on 'Commitment to the Constitution", Sharma asked the BJP "not to distort history".

"If PM Narendra Modi's government has been democratically- elected, Indira Gandhi's government too was elected. Indira Gandhi lost election. She was rooted out but in 1980 won 351 seats. Don't distort history selectively," Sharma said.
Asserting that history must be respected by each one of us, he had said that the country faced many challenges.

"If authors, intellectuals, scientists and actors have complaints, it should be heard and they should not be subject to torture," he had said.
Sharma said it "saddens" us that on his 125th birth anniversary, Jawaharlal Nehru was not given respect "despite being the architect of modern India".

He also claimed that the Prime Minister "did not mention" Nehru's contribution to India-Africa relations at a recent conference here, despite African leaders heaping praises on him (Nehru) and Indira Gandhi.