The BJP today accused Sonia Gandhi of attempting to soften the record of the Emergency and shield the Nehru-Gandhi family from scrutiny through her newly released memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love .
BJP national spokesperson CR Kesavan said the book could more accurately have been titled ” Whitewashing “, alleging that its purpose was to “sugar-coat” decisions taken during successive Congress governments.
His criticism came as the former Congress president’s memoir, released today, described the Emergency imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975 as a mistake and claimed she believes her mother-in-law eventually came to the same conclusion. Did Sonia Gandhi shed even a drop of tear when gurdwaras were targeted and thousands of innocent people were violently killed during the 1984 Sikh massacre, which happened during Congress rule?” he said. “Did Sonia Gandhi cry for the innocent lives lost in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks which happened under the Congress government? Singh had written about events surrounding Sonia Gandhi’s decision not to become prime minister after the Congress emerged as the largest party in the 2004 Lok Sabha election.
“Sonia Gandhi could have titled her memoir as ‘ Whitewashing ‘ instead of ‘ Belonging ‘, because the motive of this book appears to be sugar-coating the historical wrongs perpetrated by the Nehru-Gandhi family and camouflaging the cardinal sins committed by the Congress party,” Kesavan said in a post on X. “She says she cried for Babri Masjid. Will her book answer why the Congress-led UPA government failed to retaliate?” he said. Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi met him before the memoir was published and discussed the portions dealing with that period, according to his account. “Why, and what was Sonia Gandhi so apprehensive about what Natwar Singh would write in his book about events leading to the swearing-in of the UPA government in 2004?” he said.
