LS face-off: Patra’s ‘thrilling' bank fraud charge during Indira regime leaves Opposition fuming
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): After days of washout, both houses of Parliament saw proceedings as usual on Tuesday however, it was marked by bitter verbal exchanges between the Treasury and Opposition benches. The fracas broke out over BJP MP Sambit Patra raking up the ‘mysterious and thrilling banking fraud’ of 1971 to corner the Congress party, thereby leaving the latter up in arms. It was only at the intervention of Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla that the Congress members relented and toned down their vociferous protest. The Parliament which remained ‘paralysed’ for a week saw operations returning to normal this morning, with the Samajwadi Party (SP) raising the Sambhal violence issue and blaming the ‘fight between Centre and state’ as the reason behind bloody unrest in the city. As Sambit Patra, BJP’s first-time MP from Puri spoke on the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024, he spoke about systemic corruption in the banking industry and also the need to plug the loopholes. When he raked up one of the most sensational banking fraud cases in history, the one that happened during the Indira Gandhi regime, it led to a huge uproar and elicited strong protest from Congress members. Recalling the Nagarwala scandal of 1971, the BJP MP said that it was one of the most mysterious and thrilling stories of banking fraud cases, that happened during the Indira Gandhi regime. “On May 24, 1971, a phone call was made to the Parliamentary branch of the State Bank of India branch. Mr Ved Prakash Malhotra, the bank manager, picked up the phone call and was shocked to hear the voice on the other side. It was the voice of Indira Gandhi. She directed the bank manager to give Rs 60 lakh to Nagarwala,” Patra pointed out. Patra’s direct charge at the then Congress PM left the grand old party see red. KC Venugopal stood in protest and vociferously countered the charges by stating that her strong governance earned her the title of ‘Maa Durga’ by the then BJP veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
As the fuming Congress continued loud protests, the Speaker offered to address their concerns by expunging Indira Gandhi's name from the proceedings. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too came forward in Patra’s defence and disputed the claims that Vajpayee described the then PM as ‘Durga avatar’. The Nagarwala scandal of 1971 is purportedly one of the biggest financial scandals of Indira’s time and the charges were colossal enough to put the then Congress govt’s fate in jeopardy. A couple of books have also mentioned a ‘very secret call’ to the SBI cashier from someone impersonating Indira Gandhi and directing the manager to hand over Rs 60 lakh to Rustam Sohrab Nagarwala, a retired Army captain. Patra also told the house that the Reddy Commission was formed to probe the charges. “Though Indira Gandhi was not named, the taint could never be washed away,” he added.
