Bhubaneswar: The Odisha assembly on Friday witnessed uproarious scenes over misinformation regarding Mahatma Gandhi’s death in a booklet published by the state school and mass education department as part of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The two-page booklet Aama Bapuji: Aka Jhalaka (‘Our Bapuji: A Glimpse’), meant for schoolchildren, says that Gandhiji died at the Birla House in New Delhi on January 30, 1948 due to an “accidental sequence of events”.
The Wire carried on Thursday a story about the misrepresentation of facts in the booklet kicking off a row in Odisha.
Also read: Gandhi Died Due to ‘Accidental Sequence of Events’, Says Odisha Government Booklet
After several MLAs condemned the misinformation in the booklet and sought the government’s explanation, the speaker ruled that the Odisha school and mass education minister Samir Dash would place his reply on the issue on Saturday.
The issue was raised by Narasingha Mishra, leader of Congress legislative party in the house, in the morning. Mishra said that it is an established historical fact that Gandhiji was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948 at the Birla House in New Delhi during a prayer meeting. Still, he said, it was deplorable that the booklet said that Gandhi died due to “accidental sequence of events”.
Senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra slams BJP & BJD following a controversy over the mention of Mahatma’s death as ‘Accidental Sequence of Events’ in #Odisha govt’s booklet. #LISTEN to what he says pic.twitter.com/WnALWLmBWs
— OTV (@otvnews) November 15, 2019
“The Biju Janata Dal government is sending across an impression to the future generation that no one was involved in Gandhi’s killing. It seems like a deep-rooted conspiracy as the BJD and Bharatiya Janata Party have come closer after the general elections,” Mishra said.
Mishra added that if the distortion of history was deliberate chief minister Naveen Patnaik should resign and if it is unintentional he should tender an apology to the people of Odisha and take corrective measures.
Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati said that the distortion regarding Gandhi’s death in the booklet came at a time when many BJP leaders thought of Godse, who killed Gandhi, as a ‘martyr’ to be worshipped in temple. “This makes the mistake unpardonable considering BJP-BJD bonhomie,” he said.
Even BJD MLAs Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Amar Satpathy and Sashi Bhushan Behera condemned the misinformation in the booklet. Patnaik said a historical fact like Gandhi’s assassination could not be ignored at any cost and demanded that members across party line should pass a resolution condemning the misleading contents in the booklet.
The BJP leaders abstained from commenting on the issue in the house.