The Grand Alliance government in Bihar on Monday asked the authorities concerned to remove the objectionable reference to former prime minister Indira Gandhi from the government website. In a reference to Indira, the website said that “Indira treated Jayaprakash Narayan worse than what British did to Mahatma Gandhi in Champaran in 1917.”

The state Congress, deeply hurt over such ‘misinformation’, pleaded with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads a coalition government in Bihar in which the Congress is an important alliance partner, to delete the objectionable reference.

Sources in the Chief Minister Secretariat said that Nitish, realising that the issue could snowball into a major controversy, asked the officials concerned to ensure that the reference “Indira Gandhi treated JP worse than what British did to Mahatma in Champaran in 1917” was deleted from the website.