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Congress journal goofs up, slams Nehru and Sonia

Mumbai: In a huge embarrassment for the Congress, a party journal published from here carried an article severely critical of Jawaharlal Nehru and Sonia Gandhi and suggested that problems such as Kashmir would not have persisted if Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had his way.
Echoing the arguments of prominent ideologues of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the article published in the Hindi edition of Congress Darshan, said if Nehru had listened to Patel, problems relating to Kashmir, China and Tibet would not have resolved a long time ago.
Another article in the journal also talks about the current Congress president Sonia Gandhi, highlighting an allegation that her father Stephano Maino was a former fascist soldier in the Italian army.
Tracing Sonia's phenomenal rise in the party, it says she registered as a primary member of the Congress in 1997 and became party president in just 62 days. She had also made an unsuccessful bid to form a government.
Both articles were unsigned and published in a special edition of the Congress Darshan as a tribute to Patel on his death anniversary on December 15.
Sanjay Nirupam, the Mumbai Congress chief and editor of the journal, apologised for the two articles having found their way into the party journal.
Admitting his mistake, Nirupam said an inquiry would be conducted to find out how the articles were published. Nirupam, who was earlier with the Shiv Sena and used to edit its Hindi newspaper, 'Dopahar ka Saamna,' said he was not involved in the day-to-day running of the journal.
Noting that he did not agree with the aricle, Nirupam said he did not even know who had written them. He said a probe would be carried out into the publication of the article and such mistakes would not occur again.But the publication of the journal, coinciding with the 131st foundation day of the party on Monday, has come as a major embarrassment for the party, as both articles echo the sentiments of leading ideologues of the BJP and the RSS.
Many prominent BJP and RSS leaders have for years argued that contemporary India would have been different if Patel had been the first prime minister of the country and had steered its policies relating to Kashmir, Tibet, China and even Nepal.
There had been sharp differences between the two Congress leaders, Nehru, India's first prime minister, and Patel, the country's first home minister.
Though Patel was senior in age and in the party, Mahatma Gandhi chosen Nehru to be the first prime minister and lead the country after Independence.
Both the leaders had often threatened to quit over the differences between them. But the Congress has always backed Nehru, while allegedly sidelining Patel. However, the present BJP government has resurrected Patel and is projecting him as a true nationalist, who could have prevented the emergence of long festering problems including Kashmir.
Excerpts from the controversial articles published in the Congress Darshan (translated roughly from Hindi):
"Despite Patel getting the post of deputy prime minister and home minister, relations between the two leaders remained strained, and both had often threatened to resign."
"Nehru was in charge of foreign affairs and kept Kashmir with him, claiming it was an international issue. But deputy prime minister Patel would sometimes attend the cabinet meetings. Today's problems wouldn't have arisen had Patel's foresight on Kashmir been considered then."
"Had Nehru listened to Patel then the problems of Kashmir, China, Tibet and Nepal wouldn't have existed now. Patel opposed Nehru's move of taking the Kashmir issue to the UN."
Meanwhile, the BJP took a dig at the Congress after the goof up. "The article reveals what many people think about the Congress. It has also brought out the hidden truth about Sardar Valabhbhai Patel to the fore that the Congress never did justice to him to which he was entitled," union minister Prakash Javadekar said at a Press conference in New Delhi.
nithin@khaleejtimes.com

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