The Opposition’s demand for an explanation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on media reports that the Home Ministry destroyed over 1.5 lakh files on orders from him triggered an uproar in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Raising the matter during Zero Hour, CPI(M) member P. Rajeev said the files included papers relating to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and the Cabinet discussions held immediately thereafter. Mr. Rajeev said that according to news reports, the Prime Minister directed the Home Ministry to destroy these files. Law Minister Ravishankar Prasad denied that Mr. Modi gave such an instruction.
But Mr. Rajeev and members of the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Janata Dal(U) wanted the government to reveal whether these crucial files had been destroyed or not.
They also demanded that since the Prime Minister had been named in the news report, he should give an explanation.
Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien, who was in the chair, ruled that the Prime Minister could not be asked to respond to the charge. The members were free to raise the issue through other instruments, he said. Mr. Rajeev has now given notice for a calling attention motion. “I would like to know why this decision was taken in a hurry,” he said.Reacting to the issue, Sharad Yadav said: “You cannot scrap history by destroying secret files.”
The Law Minister put up a staunch defence. “I deny emphatically that the Prime Minister had given such instructions,” he said.
Mr. Rajeev said the destruction of the files was a conspiracy by the government to whitewash the role of Hindutva elements in the assassination of Gandhiji. Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (Trinamool) said that if the government was confident that the reports were wrong, then the newspapers that published such an item must be held accountable.
