BJP takes potshots at Congress after party magazine criticises Nehru, calls Sonia's father 'fascist'

Union minister Prakash Javadekar 'congratulated' editor Sanjay Nirupam

Articles questioning Jawaharlal Nehru’s Kashmir and China policy and calling Sonia Gandhi’s father a “fascist soldier” published in a Congress mouthpiece on Monday drew potshots from members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

One of the write-ups, in the Hindi journal Congress Darshan, blamed Nehru for “the state of affairs in Kashmir, China and Tibet”. Another made controversial remarks about Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s father.

The journal’s editor Sanjay Nirupam apologised for the fiasco that left the Congress party stunned on the 131st anniversary of its Founding Day.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar, according to The Statesman, "congratulated" Nirupam, adding that the former Shiv Sena leader used to be known for such write-ups when he was editor of Sena mouthpiece 'Dopahar Ka Saamana'.

"The article reveals what many people think about the Congress. It has also brought out the hidden truth about Sardar Valabhbhai Patel to the fore that the Congress never did justice to him to which he was entitled," Javadekar said at a press conference. He added that the truth cannot be hidden for long.

Haryana Minister Anil Vij took to Twitter to comment on the matter. “True, Jawaharlal Nehru was the founder of many problems India facing today,” he tweeted.

Vij followed that comment up with the claim that Nehru had a problem in accepting the marriage of his daughter Indira to Feroze over the latter's surname. Vij alleged that Nehru relented only when Feroze decided to adopt the Gandhi surname.

BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma, according to a DNA report, criticised the sacking of Content Editor Sudhir Joshi over the issue. Sharma said that it showed the Congress's "intolerance against truth" as most of what had appeared was a "matter of fact".