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Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004

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National

Aiyar's apology demanded

By Our New Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI, AUG. 17. Parliament witnessed uproarious scenes today — leading to adjournments in both Houses and a walkout in the Lok Sabha — when the Opposition demanded an apology from the Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, for removing a quotation of the Sangh Parivar ideologue, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, from the newly-installed `Swatantraya Jyot' in the Cellular Jail.

The matter came up in the Lok Sabha as soon as it assembled for the day with the Shiv Sena member, Anant Geete, objecting to Mr. Aiyar ordering the removal of Savarkar's quotation from the `Swatantraya Jyot' — a project initiated by his predecessor in the Petroleum Ministry, Ram Naik. With the Deputy Speaker, Charanjit Singh Atwal, rejecting Mr. Geete's notices for adjournment and suspension of the question hour, the Opposition members trooped into the well shouting slogans. Mr. Atwal tried to take up the question hour but the slogan-shouting by the Opposition forced him to adjourn the House for an hour.

Trading of charges

Though a semblance of order was restored when the House assembled again with both sides agreeing that Mr. Geete would make a statement following which the Leader of the House, Pranab Mukherjee, would respond, the brokered peace soon gave way to trading of charges with the ruling benches — particularly the Left and the Rashtriya Janata Dal — applauding Mr. Aiyar's action and challenging the Opposition's claim of Savarkar being a "freedom fighter."

In a bid to ensure against another adjournment, Mr. Mukherjee sought to calm frayed nerves by saying that there was no need to "dig into history." According to him, historians have different views and there would be no end to such a debate. The immediate task before the Government was not to evaluate the role of leaders but ascertain the facts of the matter raised by Mr. Geete. Dissatisfied with the Government's response, the Opposition walked out condemning Mr. Aiyar and his party "which has always been critical of Savarkar."

Shekhawat firm

In the Rajya Sabha, the Chairman, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, tried in vain for nearly 30 minutes to persuade Shiv Sena's Sanjay Nirupam to take his seat before adjourning the House till 2 p.m. The Chairman said he had refused permission to Mr. Nirupam to speak on the issue when he met him before the House assembled. "If the matter is of grave importance, it should be raised according to procedure. You did not listen to me, now I am not going to listen to you," he told Mr. Nirupam. He did not relent even after the BJP leader, Venkaiah Naidu, pleaded on Mr. Nirupam's behalf. There was momentary confusion when the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, stood up. The BJP members presumed that he was going to speak on the Savarkar controversy. However, Dipankar Mukherjee (CPI-M) protested and pointed out that the Home Minister could not speak on a subject on which the Chair had denied permission to speak. From this point onwards, verbal skirmishes escalated between the Left members and Shiv Sena-BJP MPs. With Mr. Nirupam not responding to Mr. Shekhawat's offer to discuss the issue in his chamber and the decibel level mounting, the House was adjourned half-an-hour before the lunch recess.

Later, addressing a press conference, Mr. Naik said he had written to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister about "this slight" to Savarkar.

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