New Delhi, Dec 6— Sonia Gandhi on Friday accused the BJP of running an organised campaign to “distort and demean” former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, saying the effort was meant to weaken the values on which modern India was built.
At the launch of the Nehru Centre India in the capital, the Congress chairperson said the ruling establishment was attempting to “rewrite history” by targeting Nehru’s record. “A systematic attempt is being made to denigrate, distort, demean and defame him,” she said. “The objective is not merely to diminish him, but to destroy the social, political and economic foundations on which our republic stands.”
Gandhi said the project was driven by an ideology that “had no role in the freedom movement” and “opposed the Constitution from the beginning”. “They even burnt the Constitution,” she said. “It is an ideology with a bigoted and viciously communal outlook. It once fanned the hate that ultimately led to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination — and today its adherents glorify his killers.”
While she said the Congress welcomed reasoned evaluation of Nehru’s contributions, Gandhi argued that what was happening now was “deliberate mischief”. “Analysis is one thing,” she said. “But misrepresenting what he said, wrote and did is totally unacceptable.”
The Congress leader urged citizens to take a stand against what she described as a “project” aimed at reshaping India’s historical memory. “We owe it to Nehru’s legacy, and to coming generations, to confront this,” she said.
