Tharoor Rebukes Congress Legacy in Column on 1975 Emergency

Indian National Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor has published a column in Project Syndicate sharply criticising the 21-month Emergency imposed by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975. Tharoor argues that the period illustrated how civil liberties can be rapidly eroded, citing custodial torture, extrajudicial killings and a climate of fear that, he writes, went largely unnoticed by the wider world at the time. Contrasting that era with contemporary India, the Thiruvananthapuram MP says the country today is "more confident and more prosperous," and that its institutions and citizens are better equipped to resist authoritarian measures. The commentary comes amid visible tension between Tharoor and the Congress leadership, following a series of recent remarks in which he has publicly endorsed some government policies and called for introspection within his own party.