Nathuram Godse's name is unspeakable in Parliament

Nathuram Godse, the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, must not be referred to in the House as it is “unparliamentary”. This rule is enforced to a point that if an MP happens to mention the name “Godse”, it will be expunged from records.

Much to the amusement of some of the MPs, the issue was raised during the Rajya Sabha proceedings on Friday when CPM parliamentarian P Rajeeve, after noting that his mention of Godse the previous day had been removed, sought a clarification from Deputy Chairman P J Kurien.

“I will go through the record and come back to you,” Kurien responded. Interestingly, this reference to Godse was also expunged. “I found it amusing while checking the verbatim of the proceedings that the word Godse was expunged. Is the word Godse unparliamentary?” Rajeeve said while speaking to Deccan Herald.

On Thursday while demanding a discussion on religious conversion and a reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rajeeve had cited media reports on the Hindu Mahasabha’s plans to erect statues of Godse. He referred to Godse twice while speaking and both times, the word was expunged while retaining other parts of the sentences.

“Godse” is among hundreds of words that find a place in “unparliamentary expressions”, compiled and published by Parliament. “Nuisance”, “marketing” and “fascist” are also on the list.

After Lok Sabha MP Sakshi Maharaj called Godse a “patriot”, it had become a major bone of contention in Parliament. “Godse may have done something by mistake but was not an anti-national. He was a patriot,” Maharaj had said.