BJP accuses Sonia Gandhi of whitewashing Congress sins — Dawn

In India, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused Sonia Gandhi, leader of the opposition Indian National Congress party, of attempting to whitewash the Congress party’s historical sins in her memoir Belonging. Dawn reports.

BJP spokesperson C. R. Kesavan said the book’s title should be changed to “Whitewashing,” as its purpose allegedly is to soften the historical sins of the Nehru-Gandhi family and conceal Congress’s mistakes. Congress representatives responded by accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party of trying to stage a political spectacle and give the memoir political coloring.

The events of 1984

Kesavan mentioned the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, which began after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. Nearly 3,000 people were killed. Human rights advocates accuse Congress of inaction and some party representatives of facilitating the violence.

In her memoir, Sonia Gandhi called these events a tragic and shameful chapter in history. She wrote that some officials turned a blind eye to the violence or even fueled it. Gandhi also defended her husband Rajiv Gandhi, who became prime minister after his mother’s death, against accusations of involvement, while acknowledging mistakes in governance and delays in restoring justice.

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Disputes over the state of emergency

The BJP also accused Gandhi of attempting to normalize and justify the state of emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975. For 21 months, civil liberties were restricted, the press was censored, and opposition politicians were imprisoned in the country.

Sonia Gandhi writes that her mother-in-law felt increasingly isolated and politically cornered before the state of emergency was imposed. According to her, Indira Gandhi did not feel entirely comfortable with the decision, but considered herself compelled to continue it because of the political turmoil at the time. In the foreword, the author emphasized that these are personal memoirs in which politics serves only as a backdrop.

The book was released ahead of elections in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, which are due to take place early next year. On Wednesday, Belonging, estimated to cost $14, topped Amazon India’s bestseller list.