Arun Jaitley- File pic
Recalling the days of the 1975 Emergency, Union minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday thanked both India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma and Union Minister of State Vijay Goel for showing “exemplary courage” during that period.
In third part of his Facebook blog series on the Emergency, Jaitley recalled how Rajat Sharma and Vijay Goel, two of his closest colleagues on the day of the Emergency i.e. 26th June, 1975, helped him in organizing the protest against the draconian measure.
On the morning of June 26, 1975, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi had informed the nation that the Emergency was imposed in the country the previous night.
“Vijay Goel and Rajat Sharma were two of closest colleagues on the day of the Emergency. They helped me to organize the 26th June 1975 protest against the Emergency. While I was being arrested, I requested both to disappear, go underground and participate in the Satyagraha starting from 29th June. Both of them led the Satyagraha,” Jaitley wrote in the blog titled “The Emergency Revisited: How it Ended?”.
Lauding the courage shown by both Rajat Sharma and Vijay Goel, Jaitley said that both continue to remain his close friends, almost a “part of his extended family”.
“Vijay Goel today is a valuable colleague in the party and the Government,” Jaitley said.
Referring to India TV Chairman Rajat Sharma, Jaitley pointed out that he decided against continuing in politics and moved over to the world of journalism where “he today is one of the India’s celebrated journalists and anchors”.
“Rajat did not continue in politics when he became a journalist. He today is one of the India’s celebrated journalists and anchors,” Jaitley said.
“Both continue to remain close friends of mine – almost a part of my extended family,” he added.
Arun Jaitley mentioned the “exemplary courage” shown by India TV Chairman Rajat Sharma and Vijay Goel during those days, in response to a tweet of Goel earlier in the day, in which he shared the letter that Jaitley had written to him and Rajat Sharma who were organizing underground activities against the Emergency.
