The accidental launch of a missile that landed in Pakistan, removal of those killed in the Moplah Rebellion from the martyrs’ list, and refunding the money of depositors in Sahara India were among prominent issues that members of the Lok Sabha raised during Zero Hour on Tuesday.
Congress’s Manish Tewari, referring to the accidental launch of a Bramhos missile, said that facts suggest that Pakistan had prepared for a retaliatory strike when the missile entered their territory. The Lok Sabha member from Anandpur Sahib said the incident made a strong case for an institutionalised dialogue with Pakistan on nuclear issues.
“The trajectory of the missile had a large number of civilian aircraft in its vicinity and there could have been an unintended catastrophe. We were lucky on that particular day,” Mr. Tewari said.
His colleague from Kerala, T.N. Prathapan, raised the issue of Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) deciding to exclude about 200 martyrs of the 1921-22 Malabar Moplah Rebellion from the official list of martyrs of the Indian freedom struggle. “Our freedom fighters should be respected, please do not insult them,” said the Lok Sabha member from Thrissur, adding, “It is not good for our country to mutilate our history,”.
BJP member from Sheohar (Bihar), Rama Devi, raised the issue of the difficulty faced by a large number of depositors of Sahara India not getting back their hard earned savings. She urged the government to take up the issue with SEBI [Securities Board Exchange of India] that had ₹24,000 crore of the para-banking company parked with them.
“The depositors are getting caught in this fight between SEBI and the Sahara group,” she said, adding that many employees working are also losing their incomes because of this face off with the regulator.
