Rajnath Singh put onus on UPA regime over destroyed files issue

Govt said the process of identifying them was done between August 2012 and May 2013, when the Congress-led coalition was in power

Government today sought to put the onus on the previous UPA regime for the controversy over destroying of 11,100 Home Ministry files saying the process of identifying them was done by it between August 2012 and May 2013, when the Congress-led coalition was in power.

Amid controversy over destruction of files relating to Home Ministry, the Government assured the Rajya Sabha that it will not allow tampering or destruction of any link with the country's glorious history and allayed fears of members that BJP-led NDA government was trying to destroy continuity of India's history.

Replying to queries raised by members on the Minister's statement made on July 11 on alleged destruction of 1.5 lakh files in his Ministry, Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured the House that no file relating to Mahatma Gandhi, former President Rajendra Prasad, former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri or the last Indian Viceroy Lord Mountbatten has been destroyed.

Singh said this is not the first time that files have been destroyed in the Ministry and the same has been done as per the mandate of manual of office procedure.

Denying that less than a minute was taken by the government in destroying the 11,100 files, Singh said the assessment of files to be destroyed was carried out in continuity between August 9, 2012 and May 2, 2013 - when UPA was in power - and 500 persons were deployed for this task.

"This is not the first time that files have been destroyed in the Home Ministry. Files have been destroyed during UPA regime also. Files have been categorised as per the mandate of the manual of office procedure. It is a continuous process," Singh informed the House.

On allegations by the opposition that the NDA regime was attempting to rewrite history and files have been destroyed as part of a conspiracy, he said, "No file relating to country's freedom struggle has been destroyed. We have no agenda to change the history of the country."

The Home Minister said, "I want to assure everyone that destruction of any link to the continuity of India's history will not be allowed to be made at any cost...No one will be allowed to tinker with any link in continuity of India's history.