JOIN USThe BJP today gloated over Congress's embarrassment following publication of articles critical of Jawaharlal Nehru and Sonia Gandhi in its mouthpiece, saying the "truth" it had been "hiding" has come out.
Rubbing salt in the wound of former Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam, who is the editor of the journal, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar "congratulated" him and quipped he was known for such write-ups when he was the editor of the Hindi edition Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Dopahar Ka Saamana'.
Nirupam, who was in Sena before he joined Congress, is also the president of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee, which publishes the magazine 'Congress Darshan'.
Though initially Nirupam sought to wash his hands off the controversy by claiming he had nothing to do with the articles, he later admitted the "mistake" and sacked the editorial content in-charge.
"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 a 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 told a press conference.
He wondered if Nirupam had done a copy-and-paste work by lifting some article he might have written for Saamana earlier.
Congress has also "confessed", he said referring to the second of the two controversial articles, that Sonia Gandhi's father was with "fascist forces" and that she did not become an Indian citizen for long after marriage and was then made the party president in 62 days after enrolling as its member.
"Congress should give clarification and Gandhi too should offer some," he said.
As Congress sacked the content editor, BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma mocked it, saying it showed the party's "intolerance against truth" as most of what had appeared was a "matter of fact".
Javadekar quoted from the write-up, which criticised Nehru's Kashmir and China policies, while lavishing praise on Patel, as he sought to further embarrass Congress.
"Congress mouthpiece would never write about Patel. And now when it has written, it has written only truth," he said, claiming that leaders outside Nehru-Gandhi family like P V Narasimha Rao, Lal Bahadur Shastri besides Patel never got "justice" from it, a party of "one family".
He also took a swipe at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi after he said on Twitter that he was going to Europe for a few days, the first time that he has gone public about a trip abroad. "He should have been more elaborate."
BJP has targeted Rahul in the past over his private foreign trips. Shrikant Sharma, who is also head of BJP's media cell, said Congress's against the content editor of the mouthpiece showed that it does not want to be told the truth, alleging that this mindset had prevailed in the party since Emergency.
Javadekar also attacked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after the latter asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry ordered by his government into the affairs of DDCA.
"He has to stage some drama every day. He can also (question) Obama. The Centre is not against any Commission but only what is permitted under rules and regulations will happen," the BJP leader said. BJP has argued that the Delhi government does not have necessary powers to constitute such a Commission