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

The history of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) came up for debate in the Assembly on Thursday, with the BJP hailing it was a nationalist organisation, and the DMK criticising it over the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and its reported non-involvement in the country’s freedom struggle.

During the discussion on the Interim Budget and Agriculture Interim Budget, BJP State unit president Nainar Nagenthran termed the RSS as a “pure movement”, and said its efforts were directed towards achieving a strong nation. Intervening, Minister S. Regupathy asked what was the need to issue a certificate for the RSS, which was linked to Gandhiji’s assassination, and asked if such a debate was necessary in the House.

Congress leader K. Selvaperunthagai sought to intervene to say how Gandhiji led protests across the country for Independence, and was later assassinated. He also offered to send a book on the assassination to the BJP’s office for its leaders to read. Minister P.K. Sekarbabu joined the debate to point out that V.D. Savarkar, who the BJP was celebrating, was among the accused in the conspiracy trial for Gandhiji’s assassination.

Earlier in the debate, Mr. Nagenthran termed the Interim Budget as “mirage” with no concrete future projects for the State. He said it could be because that the DMK government did not have the confidence that it would not be elected to power in the ensuring Assembly election.When he criticised the DMK government over the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), Chief Minister M.K. Stalin intervened to ask Mr. Nagenthran if the BJP-led Centre would come forward to give exemption to Tamil Nadu from the exam.

To Mr. Nagenthran’s contention that then Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda and then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had jointly worked to provide for 7.5% seats on preferential basis to students who studied in State government schools and had qualified in the NEET, Minister Thangam Thennarasu asked if the AIADMK endorsed Mr. Nagenthran’s view of the BJP’s role in reservation.

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

The Chief Minister asserted that Tamil Nadu was among the States where women were safe, and data from the Centre too supported this contention. Mr. Stalin also criticised the BJP-ruled States over the safety of women. He said he had data on the situation in BJP-ruled States, and asked if Mr. Nagenthran was willing to accept them.