DMK, BJP trade barbs over RSS history, NEET in the Assembly

The history of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) came up for discussion in the Parliament on Thursday; The BJP praised it as a nationalist organization and the DMK criticized it for reports of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and lack of involvement in the country’s freedom struggle.

During the discussion on Interim Budget and Agriculture Interim Budget, BJP State unit president Nainar Nagenthran called the RSS a “pure movement” and said its efforts were towards creating a strong nation. Intervening, Minister S. Regupathy asked what was the need for issuing certificates to RSS in connection with Gandhiji’s assassination and asked whether such a discussion was necessary in the Parliament.

Congress leader K. Selvaperunthagai tried to intervene to explain how Gandhiji led protests for Independence across the country and was later assassinated. He also offered to send a book on the assassination to the BJP office for its leaders to read. Minister PK Sekarbabu joined the discussion and stated that VD Savarkar, celebrated by the BJP, was among the accused in the conspiracy case regarding Gandhiji’s assassination.

Earlier in the debate, Mr Nagenthran described the Interim Budget as a “mirage” with no concrete future projects for the State. He said this could be because the DMK government lacks confidence that it will not be elected to power while securing Assembly elections. When he criticized the DMK government over the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET), Chief Minister MK Stalin intervened and asked Mr. Nagenthran whether the BJP-led Center would come forward to grant exemption from the exam to Tamil Nadu.

Countering Mr. Nagenthran’s claim that the then Union Health Minister JP Nadda and then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had jointly worked to provide preferential 7.5% seats to students studying in the State’s government schools and qualifying in NEET, Minister Thangam Thennarasu asked whether the AIADMK supported Mr. Nagenthran’s view on the BJP’s role in reservation.

When the BJP leader criticized the DMK government for “increasing incidents of crime against women in Tamil Nadu”, Mr. Stalin asked him to include the situation in Manipur.

The Chief Minister claimed that Tamil Nadu was among the states where women were safe and data from the Center also supported this claim. Mr Stalin also criticized the BJP-ruled States over women’s safety. He said he had data on the situation in the BJP-ruled states and asked if Mr. Nagenthran was willing to accept them.