NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday asked the Congress and its president Sonia Gandhi to clarify on the critical articles published in the December issue of the Congress mouthpiece.
The BJP said the truth that the grand old party had been hiding has come out. Union Minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar, addressing a press conference at the party headquarters said former Shiv Sena member Sanjay Nirupam, who is the editor of the journal, was known to hold similar views when he was editor of the Shiv Sena mouthpiece, Dopahar Saamna. Javadekar said the articles in the Congress journal appeared to be a cut-and-paste job.
Nirupam had tried to disown the articles but later admitted the mistake and sacked the editorial content in-charge, Sudhir Joshi.
But the issue gave ample opportunity for the BJP to hit out at the Congress party for being a family-centric party as leaders like Sardar Patel, PV Narasimha Rao, Gulzarilal Nanda had been “ignored”.
“The Congress journal which is named Congress Darshan should be called ‘Satyarth Darshan’ (sight of truth). It is significant that it has come on the 131st foundation day of the party. Sardar Patel had maximum support in Congress to become the prime minister but Gandhiji proposed Nehru and kept Patel at bay.
“Patel merged 562 provinces into India and Nehru was in charge of only Kashmir and it remains a problem. Patel had warned about China’s betrayal on Tibet... This is not BJP or Javadekar saying so but the mouthpiece of Congress. What Congress had been hiding has come out. I congratulate Sanjay Nirupam,” Javadekar said.
Javadekar also referred to another article which raised questions over Sonia Gandhi’s father who allegedly had links with fascist forces. The BJP leader said questions have been raised as to why Sonia Gandhi did not become Indian citizen immediately after marriage, and became a party president within 62 days of becoming a party member. “Congress should give clarification and Gandhi too should offer some,” he said.
Javadekar also took a swipe at Congress VP Rahul Gandhi after he said on Twitter that he was going to Europe for a few days, “He should have been more elaborate.”