All Mahatma-related files intact amid clean-up operation: Rajnath

Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Friday denied that files related to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi were destroyed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, telling the Rajya Sabha that no historic files have been destroyed by the ministry.

Making a suo moto statement in the Rajya Sabha, the home minister said all important files, including those related to Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, are safe.

''The government has destroyed about 11,100 redundant files which have no documentary and historical value,'' Rajnath Singh told the upper house.

The Rajya Sabha was disrupted on Wednesday as opposition members, quoting media reports, alleged that nearly 1.5 lakh files, including several historically important ones, were destroyed by the home ministry in a cleaning drive.

P Rajeev of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had alleged that this was an to destroy records about the alleged involvement of some Hindu elements in the assassination.

He said the clearing-out of old files was in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to improve hygiene and cleanliness in the workspace, and the matter was followed up by the cabinet secretary, who had written a letter asking all the government departments to weed out files and papers in accordance with the rules of record-keeping.

''None of the 11,100 files so destroyed, relate to Gandhi's assassination, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri or Lord Mountbatten as alleged by the member. Fifty-two files and 67 sets of exhibits containing 11,186 pages relating to Gandhi's assassination are in the safe custody of the National Archives,'' he said.