Enraged by RSS Sarsanghchalak K.S. Sudarshan’s attack on the policies of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress today ridiculed his sense of history on the one hand and cold shouldered his praise for Indira Gandhi on the other.Congress spokesman Anand Sharma took an exception to Sudarhsan holding Nehru responsible for all the ills facing the country. He said: ‘‘It is preposterous. It is highly objectionable. It is condemnable.’’Sharma said, ‘‘Sudarshan has a penchant for making strange observations.’’ Terming Sudarshan view of history ‘‘distorted,’’ he said, it ‘‘negates all known facts of the freedom struggle.’’ Referring to Sudarshan’s description of Nehru as ‘‘the last Englishman to rule India,’’ he said, ‘‘No responsible person would make such a remark.’’ He said Nehru was a front-ranking leader of the freedom movement and was the architect of modern India. He recalled that Nehru spent 19 years in jail during the freedom struggle, in contrast to RSS leaders, who played no role in the movement.As for Nehru’s policies, he said the late prime minister was a ‘‘philosopher,’’ who established mega industrial, irrigation and power projects.When asked for his response to Sudarshan’s praise of Indira Gandhi, Sharma said, ‘‘She does not require a belated certificate from him 21 years after her martyrdom.’’ He said her greatness had been already acknowledged. She had been hailed as Durga by a leader of the Sangh Parivar after the Bangaldesh war. Therefore, ‘‘It is good that the Sangh chief has corrected an aberration in his thoughts.”Nehru was ‘Azaadi Hero’; Khurana Jammu: STRESSING that ‘it was not a criticism of RSS chief K. Sudarshan’, BJP’s north zone president Madan Lal Khurana said here that Jawahar Lal Nehru was a ‘azaadi hero’ and a great leader. Though initially a bit hesitant to react to Sudarshan's praise of Indira Gandhi, and criticism of Nehru for ‘all troubles of the country, Khurana said that Nehru had been a hero of nation during the time of independence and even had taught him lessons in courtesy.
