The Mumbai Congress found itself in a most embarrassing situation ironically on the party’s 131st anniversary day on Monday over “highly objectionable” contents published about the party’s national president Sonia Gandhi and late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, with a section of the partymen rooting for the sacking of the city unit president Sanjay Nirupam.
The article published in Congress Darshan — which describes Sonia Gandhi as the daughter of a former member of the Fascist leader Benito Mussolini’s army that lost to the Russians in the World War II and discusses the questionable manner in which Nehru handled the Kashmir issue and his relations with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel — created a storm in the State Congress circles.
Having come under severe flak from within the party circles, Nirupam resorted to damage control exercise by owning up to the “objectionable contents” in the two write-ups in the Mumbai Congress’ official mouthpiece Congress Darshan (published in Hindi) and sacked the content editor of the magazine Sudhir Joshi from his post.
However, there was a vehement clamour for Nirupam’s removal from his party post. “How can the Congress magazine be a vehicle for RSS propagandaIJ The language and the content in the articles clearly reflect the RSS ideology. The contents in the article defame Jawaharlal Nehru and Sonia Gandhi. Nirupam saying merely that he is accepting the mistake will not do. He should take responsibility and quit his post. Or the party leadership should sack him from the post forthwith,” senior Congress leader Naseem Khan told The Pioneer on Monday.
Alluding to the sacking of the party mouthpiece’s content editor Sudhir Joshi from his post, Khan said, “Since the damage is already done, the removal of Joshi does not mean anything at this stage. Joshi comes from an RSS background. Who and how come Joshi came to be appointed as the content editor of the Congress DarshanIJ I urge the party leadership to probe the appointment of Joshi and fix responsibility for the questionable contents in the write-ups. Meanwhile, the Congress should initiate action against Nirupam who is the editor of the magazine,” Khan said.
Talking to mediapersons earlier in the day, Nirupam said, “Some words used in some articles of Congress Darshan are certainly objectionable. I accept my mistake.”
A former senior journalist, Nirupam also promised to take action against people in the editorial panel who are responsible for the “objectionable content” in the write-up. “We shall also ensure that such mistakes are not repeated in the future,” he added.
Informed party sources said that it was Nirupam who brought in Joshi and made him the content editor of Congress Darshan. “Nirupam himself brought in and appointed Joshi as the content editor two months ago when the Hindi version of the magazine started. He is considered a Nirupam man. What we all know is that he is a former journalist”.
While Nirupam himself is the editor, the editorial board comprises Sandesh Kondwilkar, Chitrasen Singh, both senior Congress functionaries, Nizamuddin Rayeen and Bhushan Patil.
While Khan came out in the open against Nirupam, there were other Congress leaders who chose not to go on record were also critical of the Mumbai Congress president.
Reacting to the controversy, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan downplayed the issue, saying that since Nirupam himself had clarified everything, he did not think it right to comment on the issue.
Both the Shiv Sena and the BJP took a dig at Nirupam for the editorial mess-up in “Congress Darshan”. “After all the truth has come out,” Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said. “It’s an ideological ghar-wapasi for Nirupam,” said Mohit Khamboj of the BJP.
In the profile of the Congress president published in the “Congress Darshan”, the unnamed author describes Sonia Gandhi as the daughter of Stefano Maino, “who was in the Army of Mussolini’s that was defeated by the Russia in the World war-II”. In another place, the author describes Stefano Maino as the former Fascist soldier.
Similarly, one of the write-ups holds Nehru as solely responsible for the mess-ups vis-a-vis Kashmir and China. The article states that Nehru was allegedly not heeding his colleague Sardar Patel’s advice on international affairs.
“Though Patel got the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, the relations between the two leaders had come under considerable strain, and both had threatened to resign time and again,” the article states.
In another reference that gives an opportunity to the BJP and other right wing forces which have often alleged Patel got a raw deal at the hands of Nehru, the article stated, “Nehru was in charge of the foreign affairs and kept Kashmir with him citing it as an international issue. But today’s problems could have been avoided if Nehru had considered Patel’s foresight on the issue”
Among other things, the article virtually accuses Nehru of having messed up relations with China, Nepal and the Tibet issue by ignoring Patel views, and cites Patel’s letter to Nehru in which he cautioned against China as “unfaithful and a future enemy.”
On the Goan liberation issue, the article points out that Nehru had not taken kindly to Patel declaring that Indian armed forces could free it (Goa) from Portuguese occupation in just two hours - “Goa would not have had to wait till 1961 for liberation if Patel’s suggestion was accepted then,” the article stated.