Bhubaneswar: An Odisha government booklet describing Mahatma Gandhi's death as an "accident" has triggered a row with both the Congress and the ruling Biju Janata Dal condemning the matter in the state Assembly on Friday.
Congress legislature party leader Narasingh Mishra demanded an apology from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik holding him responsible for the blunder.
"This is deplorable. I hold the Chief Minister responsible for this. He should beg to be pardoned by the people. If he has knowingly done it, I demand his resignation. People of the country can never excuse him,"said Mishra in the Assembly.
The two-page booklet "Aama Bapuji: Eka Jhalaka" (Our Bapuji: A Glimpse) prepared by state school and mass education department said Mahatma Gandhi died due to accidental reasons on January 30, 1948.
The brochure published on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi said he died due to accidental reasons in a sudden sequence of events on January 30, 1948 at Delhi's Birla House.
"What does it mean? It means that Odisha government has accepted that Nathuram Godse is not the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, even though he has already been hanged.
This is unfortunate," said Mishra.Since some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders are describing Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Gandhi, as God, it seems the BJD is influenced by the ideology, said Mishra.
He slammed both the BJP and the BJD saying that both are two sides of the same coin. BJD member Soumya Ranjan Patnaik also condemned the misrepresentation of the way the Mahatma was assassinated.
He said it is conspiracy to recreate history and all should condemn it by rising above political consideration, said Patnaik. Following discussion, Speaker Surya Narayan Patro directed the government to give a reply on Saturday. Meanwhile, the state government has ordered a probe into the incident.
