Senior BJP leader L K Advani [Images] has drawn a parallel between the arrest of Varun Gandhi under NSA and imprisonment of leaders like Jay Prakash Narayan and Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the Emergency.

"I remember the Emergency when great patriots like Jai Prakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee were arrested under MISA contending that they were a threat to national security," he said referring to the Varun Gandhi [Images] episode in an interview to Zee News [Get Quote].

Advani said Varun's arrest was a work of "perverse mentality" and the people of the country would not forgive such an act.

"Nothing can be more perverse than using NSA during elections... people should not forget that elections were conducted after Emergency and those who were jailed had won," he said.

Advani said the Congress' attempts to call him the scriptwriter of the Varun episode as an act of "desperation and surrender."

The National Security Act was invoked against Varun, who had been booked for making anti-Muslim speeches, last Sunday.