New Delhi: In fresh criticism of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, the BJP on Wednesday, November 11, said she decided to make the “super sacrifice” of not taking up prime ministership only to become a “super PM”.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi also rejected Gandhi’s claim in her memoir, “Belonging: A Journey of Love”, that her husband Rajiv Gandhi was against the Emergency.
In her memoir released a day ago, Gandhi writes about how she went from completely rejecting the idea of taking up prime ministership to a feeble “theek hai” when alliance colleagues pressed her to take the job only to finally say a firm, categorical no.
Asked about Gandhi sharing her inner turmoil before turning down the prime minister’s post in 2004, Trivedi quipped, “What a super sacrifice it was that she became super PM leaving the PM’s post.”
‘Won’t find such example of sacrifice anywhere’
Gandhi left the PM’s post but took up a Cabinet rank as chairperson of the National Advisory Committee during the Congress-led UPA rule, he said.
“You will not find such an example of sacrifice anywhere in the world where a Cabinet rank is taken up leaving the PM’s post. National Advisory Committee chairperson, a Cabinet rank that too with office of profit, meaning secured a profitable Cabinet rank,” he said.
“And when a controversy erupted, Sonia Gandhi had to resign. Before she could return after the election, the Manmohan Singh government, which was running under her leadership, changed the rules and put the NAC chairman’s post out of the office of profit,” the BJP leader said.
‘Wanted to be PM, didn’t get allies’ support’
Trivedi alleged that Gandhi wanted to become prime minister.
“And the proof: After the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government fell short of a majority by one vote in 1999, Sonia Gandhi called on the then president (K R Narayanan). She came out of the President’s House and declared, “We have 272″. This means she wanted to become PM, but she did not get support from the allies,” the BJP Rajya Sabha MP claimed.
Trivedi further slammed Gandhi for blaming her brother-in-law, Sanjay Gandhi, for the imposition of the Emergency and claiming that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was against it.
‘Rajiv Gandhi supported Emergency’
He said Rajiv Gandhi had supported the Emergency on various occasions.
“In 1985, Rajiv Gandhi gave a statement in which he did not say that he was against it (Emergency). Instead, he defended it, saying it was absolutely right. At a press conference, Rajiv Gandhi was asked about the imposition of the Emergency. He paused and then said it was the right step,” the BJP leader said.
“Is the late Rajiv Gandhi right, or is Sonia ji right?” he asked.
On the former Congress president’s account of the fallout with Sanjay Gandhi’s wife Maneka Gandhi, Trivedi said it appears more like a story of “deep-seated animosity” between a “desi devrani” and a “videshi jethani” than “Emergency ki kahani” with the kind of “blame-game” seen in her memoir.
‘Many technical mistakes there’
On Gandhi’s views on the Anna Hazare movement and the RSS in her memoir, Trivedi said, “There is no need to go into much detail. There are many technical mistakes there.”
“The Anna Hazare movement started in 2011, but the book mentions 2012. It mentions the RSS was founded in 1921 while its founder, Dr Kesav Baliram Hedgewar was in jail in connection with the freedom movement in 1921,” he said.
“It seems those who have written the book did not do proper research,” he said.
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Source: The Siasat Daily
