Uma holds dharna, The Week rules out any apology

Though she initially claimed the dharna — started at 7.30 am — would continue till the magazine apologised, Uma gave it up at 1 pm on the advice of S.Gurumurthy, convenor of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, who has influence on her along with Home Minister LK Advani and Govindacharya.

Gurumurthy apparently called on Uma’s cellphone every five minutes during the fag end of her dharna asking her to abandon her agitation as she had already registered her protest.

Uma alleged she had become victim of a conspiracy but Managing Editor of The Week, Philip Mathew, said the magazine stood by the interview and ruled out an apology.

Interestingly, a reporter of the Hindi daily, Hindustan, Brijendra Rawat, who had along with The Week reporter conducted the “interview”, in a letter written by him, today offered an unconditional apology to Uma, saying his write-up had been altered. Regretting the publishing of things which she “did not say during the interview”, Rawat has said he had unintentionally become a part of a “conspiracy” aimed at sullying her image. Rawat was present at the dharna.

The Editor of Hindustan, Ajay Upadhyay, however claimed that the article submitted by Rawat had not been distorted and the paper stood by the report. He denied that Rawat had resigned or that the paper was contemplating any action against him.

Uma, who was joined by BJP vice president Madan Lal Khurana briefly at the dharna, broke down saying “my fault is I am candid. Please do justice to me. Every word of The Week article is wrong and I did not exchange any gossip with the correspondent.”