BackGovt faces opposition fire over destruction of ‘historic’ files
Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad says the files are all in the possession of the govt
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New Delhi: Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday demanded an explanation from the government on the alleged destruction of historic files, but the government denied the charges.
P. Rajeev of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) raised the matter during zero hour, saying 150,000 historic files, including the details of the first cabinet meeting after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, had been destroyed during a cleaning drive by the home ministry.
“Over 1.5 lakh files were destroyed, they contained historic documents like the record of Lal Bahadur Shastri giving his salary to the calamity fund, and first president Rajendra Prasad refusing to take his pension," Rajeev said.
Citing newspaper reports that the drive was ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the member of Parliament said: “Why was the prime minister in a hurry to destroy historical documents? Government is trying to rewrite history. They want to destroy evidence of the role of some Hindutva forces in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi," Rajeev alleged. The entire opposition joined him in protests.
Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, however, denied the charges.
“Government refutes all allegations. They are all in the possession of the government," Prasad said.
On 23 June, news agency Press Trust of India had reported that on the direction of Modi, the Union home ministry is on a cleanliness drive and, in less than a month, had destroyed nearly 150,000 files that had gathered dust for years.
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