MP: Cong govt suspends pension of those who were detained during Emergency; BJP opposes move

The government clarified that the pension has not been permanently annulled, but is put on hold until a verification of the recipients of the amount is conducted.

Image: PTI

New Delhi: The newly elected Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has decided to suspend the pension of all those who were detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The pension has not been permanently annulled, but is put on hold until the government conducts a verification of the recipients of the pension amount of Rs.25000. The previous BJP government had started the scheme to compensate the loss of those who went to jail during the emergency under the MISA. On December 29, a government order said that the officials have been directed to carry out physical verification of former MISA detainees, and until this exercise is over, the monthly pension of Rs 25,000 should not be paid. As per sources, Congress leaders believed that most of the beneficiaries of the scheme were either BJP members of affiliated to the Rashtriya Sewak Sangh. The BJP said that it will oppose the decision to scrap the scheme as it was or the people who suffered injustice during the emergency. "Great injustice has been done to the people from all sections of society who had opposed and suffered a lot during the Emergency that had been imposed to hound people and stifle the democracy," said state BJP general secretary V D Sharma. Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja said the order does not scrap the pension scheme but only talks about a necessary exercise prior to the disbursement of money. The BJP was raising hue and cry for no reason, he said. The MISA pension costs around 70-75 crores to the state funds annually. Taking a dig at Gandhi,  Railway and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted: "Indira Gandhi’s ‘third son’ stops pension to those who fought for democratic values during India’s darkest days in the Emergency"