Hathkadiyon ki Jhankar Suno – Jantantra Ki Lalkar Suno Na Chali Hai, Na Hee Chalegi- Tanashahon Ki Sarkar Suno- This verse instantly brings back haunting memories of the dark period between 1975 and 1977 — the Emergency — when countless citizens were packed into jails, brought from Tihar Jail to Tis Hazari Court in prison buses, their hands shackled like criminals.

Each line of this song still burns in our hearts like a volcano of pain and rage.But these weren’t criminals — they were the brave voices who dared to challenge the dictatorship of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and paid the price for defending democracy.They were handcuffed, paraded under armed guards, and silenced — all for the ‘crime’ of standing up for the Constitution.

This was recalled by Chandni Chowk MP Praveen Khandelwal, who witnessed these scenes with his own eyes.

His own family suffered during the Emergency — his late uncle Shri Satish Chandra Khandelwal and father Shri Vijay Khandelwal were both imprisoned in Delhi’s Tihar Jail for opposing the Emergency. His family was among thousands in Delhi who bore the brunt of state-sponsored repression.

MP Khandelwal described 25th June 1975 as the darkest day in the history of Indian democracy — the day the Constitution was trampled, civil liberties suspended, and the nation turned into an open prison.

Speaking was forbidden. Writing was censored. Protesting meant jail.

Human dignity was crushed under the boots of tyranny.

“Chandni Chowk and Old Delhi paid the heaviest price for this dictatorship,” he said.Just steps away, in the narrow lanes of Turkman Gate, innocent people were shot dead, homes flattened by bulldozers, women and children dragged on streets, entire neighborhoods destroyed in silence.

No one had the freedom to speak — and those who did were silenced with the butt of a rifle.It was tyranny in its naked, most brutal form. Turkman Gate was not just a neighborhood — it became a tombstone of Indian democracy, where even today, the Constitution stands with its head bowed.

Khandelwal added that citizens were told — “If you want to live, undergo sterilization.” People were dragged off the streets and forcibly sterilized. Those who resisted were beaten ruthlessly. It is said that dead bodies were loaded into trucks at night and dumped near Ring Road. Kitchens were destroyed.

Thousands were displaced, thrown out of their homes.

There were no witnesses to their screams. No courts, no hearings.

Na appeal hai- Na Daleel Hai

Ho Rahi Sharafat Zaleel Hai These lines, sung by Emergency-era prisoners, capture the terror of those times.

Khandelwal lashed out at Congress, saying: “Those who gave the orders for this terror still walk free, and their descendants today preach about democracy and the Constitution.” He called it shameful that the Congress Party has never acknowledged or apologized for the atrocities of the Emergency. No accountability. No remorse.

“This was not democracy — it was power gone mad,” he said.

He added, “Today, when we sit in Parliament, speak of the Constitution, and call India the mother of democracy, we must remember the cries of those Turkman Gate homes — cries that remind us what happens when power considers itself above the Constitution.”

Turkman Gate was not a mere incident. It was the funeral pyre of the poor who were punished simply for raising their voice and wanting to save their homes. Even after 50 years, Congress has forgotten the blood-soaked soil of that era.

But we will never forget — not Turkman Gate, not the Emergency, not the last screams of the innocent.

Because to protect democracy, memory must stay alive- said Khandelwal