Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], November 10 (ANI): BJP national spokesperson CR Kesavan on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi over her memoir, accusing her of "sugarcoating" the Nehru-Gandhi family's 'historical wrongs" in the book. He further said that the book should have been titled "Whitewashing" instead of "Belonging".
Speaking to ANI, Kesavan said the motive of this book appears to be "camouflaging" the wrongs committed by the Congress Party.
"Sonia Gandhi says she cried for Babri Masjid. Did Sonia Gandhi shed even a drop of tear when gurdwaras were attacked, and thousands of innocents were brutally targeted and killed during the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre which happened under the Congress rule? Sonia Gandhi wept profusely for the Batla House terrorists. Did Sonia Gandhi cry when our brave jawans, in the line of duty, were martyred protecting our nation and people? Did Sonia Gandhi shed even a drop of tear when innocent lives were killed during the merciless 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai? And does this book of Sonia Gandhi address why the cowardly Congress-led UPA government failed to even react to these terror attacks?" he said.
He called the memoir's treatment of the Emergency "appalling and shocking," alleging Sonia Gandhi had tried to "normalise and justify" the measure imposed by former PM Indira Gandhi, which he said, "suspended fundamental rights and murdered our Constitution."
Kesavan thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "resolutely course-correcting the historical wrongs and the sins committed by the Congress Party."
His remarks came as 'Belonging: A Journey of Love' hit the shelves on Tuesday. The memoir traces Sonia Gandhi's journey from her childhood in post-war Italy and her romance with Rajiv Gandhi at Cambridge to her life in India and the personal losses that shaped her bond with the country, including the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
In a statement to The Hindu earlier, Sonia Gandhi said she and Rajiv had once realised "there was no point in trying to keep up with all that had been written about us," but that "there would come a time when I felt that I should tell my own story."
"The values that I learnt growing up survive. I have tried my best to be true to them: loyalty to family and friends, sincerity and feeling for others, the idea of being dutiful and responsible," she said. (ANI)
"Should have been titled whitewashing": BJP's CR Kesavan slams Sonia Gandhi's memoir Belonging
