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Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said former PM Narasimha Rao “comes out in a bad light as far as the Hindu-Muslim situation is concerned”
Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan was reacting to allegations that former PM PV Narasimha Rao was not given “due dignity”. (Image: PTI/File)
Amid allegations that CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi whitewashed India’s history in her memoir ‘Belonging’, former Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan has said it is “partly true” that former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao could have been given party honours.
Chavan said Gandhi may have passed Narasimha Rao over because honouring him “could hurt certain forces” as he “comes out in a bad light as far as the Hindu-Muslim situation is concerned”.
The ruling BJP and Rao’s grandson have slammed Gandhi’s memoir as a “pack of lies”. The saffron party has also revived its criticism of the Congress as appeasing minorities for votes through the book before election season.
Chavan was reacting to allegations that Rao, a former Congress president, was not given “due dignity”. “When Narasimha Rao died, I think he was not given due dignity as a former Congress president and a former Prime Minister; that is the allegation. And I think it is partly true that he could have been given Congress party honours… He comes out in a bad light as far as the Hindu-Muslim or communal situation is concerned. So I think it is quite possible that she felt honouring him could hurt certain forces in the country. That is my reading of it; I don’t know what actually happened, nor do I know whether she has spoken about it in the book,” he said.
#WATCH | Delhi | On CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’, Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan says, “When Narasimha Rao died, I think he was not given due dignity as a former Congress president and a former Prime Minister; that is the allegation. And I think it is partly true that he could have been given Congress party honours… He comes out in a bad light as far as the Hindu-Muslim or communal situation is concerned. So I think it is quite possible that she felt honouring him could hurt certain forces in the country. That is my reading of it; I don’t know what actually happened, nor do I know whether she has spoken about it in the book.”— ANI (@ANI) November 11, 2026
WHAT IS THE ALLEGATION AGAINST SONIA GANDHI?
Rao’s grandson, NV Subhash, on Wednesday (November 11) termed Gandhi’s memoirs a “pack of lies” and alleged that it contained historical blunders concerning the Gandhi family’s tenure in power, including during the time of the Emergency.
Subhash, also the chief spokesperson for the BJP’s Telangana unit, accused Gandhi of deliberately ignoring the contributions made by Rao to the Congress and the nation and said he was “not surprised” by the omission.
“As a member of late PV Narasimha Rao’s family, it was no big surprise for us that he was not mentioned in the book. She (Gandhi) will definitely and deliberately want to avoid the contributions made by him for the Congress party and the nation,” Subhash said while speaking to PTI Videos.
Subhash said it was a “habitual practice” of the Gandhi family to overlook and “belittle” its own leaders in order to highlight members of the Gandhi family. On going through the book, “we see a lot of disparity and contradictions”, he said.
Citing an example of one such contradiction, he said: “On the one hand, she says she was not interested in her husband, late former PM Rajiv Gandhi, entering into politics and on the other, she promotes her children into mainstream politics and in the future, her grandchildren also. So this is the hypocrisy.”
He also accused Gandhi of shedding “crocodile tears” over the Babri Masjid demolition issue. Claims of breaking down over the Babri Masjid demolition incident indicate that she is “distancing herself from the Hindus” and trying to “appease” certain sections of society, he added.
“The BJP wonders what kind of hypocrisy is this, as there has been a 400-year-long struggle and also legal battles for the Babri Masjid and ultimately, the Supreme Court gave a verdict after which only the Ram temple was constructed there,” he said.
Sonia Gandhi’s memoir – ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’ – was released on Tuesday, November 10, inviting both positive and negative feedback regarding its content.
(With PTI inputs)
Quick Answers
Ask News18Prithviraj Chavan stated that Sonia Gandhi may have passed over former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao for party honours because his handling of the Hindu-Muslim and communal situation could hurt certain forces in the country, acknowledging that allegations of Rao not receiving due dignity are partly true.
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Oindrila Mukherjee is a senior sub-editor who works for the rewrite and breaking news desks. Her nine years of experience in print and digital journalism range from editing and reporting to writing im…Read More
November 12, 2026, 11:59 IST
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