Date:27/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/27/stories/2007042707451200.htm

National

Lalu denies supporting Emergency

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Accusing the media of distorting his statement, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Thursday denied that he had ever supported the imposition of Emergency in the country by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975.

Talking to newspersons here, Mr. Prasad, who is also president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, said he had been misquoted in the media during a press conference he held at Varanasi on Wednesday which said that he had stated that emergency was the right decision and he was a product of emergency. "I had participated in the Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash Narayan led movement and the students' agitation against the imposition of emergency and underwent several hardships," he said.

Mr. Prasad said later even the Congress and Indira Gandhi had accepted that the imposition of emergency was a big mistake and this was the reason why the Janata Party came to power. He said emergency could be imposed in the event of a total collapse of the democratic system.