New Delhi: Heated exchange took place between BJP MP Subramanian Swamy and Congress members as he attempted to raise the issue of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. During Zero Hour, Swamy said the Modi government has placed most of the files regarding the assassination in the National Archives.
Stating that he had a chance to go through the files, Mr Swamy said lot of “scurrilous comments” were being made and “even parliamentarians are making these remarks and the Supreme Court has had to pull them up and give them a stern warning”.
“So it’s time the House discuss it and I can for the benefit of the House point three basic facts which have come out of my reading of the archival records,” he said. As he was about to make his first point, Anand Sharma (Congress) rose to say something, but could not be heard.
Responding to agitation from Congress benches, the BJP MP said, “I am not taking any name except that of Mahatama Gandhi’s. I will not take any other Gandhi name”, evoking laughter from the treasury benches.
Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien told Sharma that Mr Swamy has been permitted to raise the issue, even as Swamy alleged that Sharma “is questioning the Chair.” Kurien advised Sharma to hear Swamy before objecting.
“Anand Sharmaji, unless you hear what he says, how can you object,” the Deputy Chairman said. The deputy chairman also said that Swamy has only spoken about the Supreme Court making some observations but has not named anybody.
Swamy further said Mahatma Gandhi’s mortal remains were not subjected to any post-mortem and as a consequence there was a dispute on the number of bullets fired. He said while newspapers wrote four bullets were fired upon him, the prosecution said the number was three.
However, due to the ruckus by Congress MPs Swamy could not complete his speech as his allotted time got over and Question Hour was taken up. The Supreme Court of India had last week asked Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi to either apologise over his statement blaming RSS for Mahatma Gandhi's assassination or face trial.
