Here’s how Jaitley didn’t subscribe to Advani’s belief

The internal conflict in the ruling party at Centre is at its peak and the finance minister of India has tried his best to defend his party. A major controversy broke out recently after BJP patriarch LK Advani expressed concerns that "forces that can crush democracy are stronger" now and that Emergency-like situation could emerge again. The comments were seen by the Congress as being aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while Aam Aadmi Party felt it was the "first indictment" of Modi's politics.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has told the news agency PTI, it is not possible today for the world's largest democracy to become 'dictatorial'.

Jaitley said Emergency was a phase which showed that a democracy can be converted into a dictatorship by using some provisions of the Constitution and all the major institutions like bureaucracy, police, media and judiciary can collapse.

"I think, today the global awareness is in favour of the democracy and the kind of sanctions which can be imposed on a dictatorship itself can be a deterrent.

"I think, the media is also strong, the polity is strong and the global institutions are also strong. The world would not accept the world's largest democracy becoming dictatorial today," Jaitley told the agency.

Without referring to Advani's comments, Jaitley said the media censorship is not possible today "because of the technology itself".

"You have news travelling through the internand the internet can't be censored," Jaitley said.

Jaitley also added that the polity was strong even during the Emergency, but "the media had by and large caved in".

Recalling his own experiences from the Emergency days, Jaitley said he hopes that "the judiciary today is far more independent and does not cave in to any dictatorial tendencies as it caved in during emergency".

"But the fact that detentions are no longer possible without a basis, media censorship is no longer possible and hopefully judiciary would be far more independent, it would not be possible for anybody to convert a democracy into a dictatorship without these three limbs," he said.

Jaitley said the tradition of dynasty and dynastic political parties started with Emergency.
Recalling his experience during the emergency days of Indira Gandhi, Jaitley told the media, "So we burnt an effigy of Indira Gandhi and thereafter I was arrested as part of the protest. I was first kept in Tihar Jail, then taken to Ambala and brought back to Delhi. The police detained me under MISA."