Versatile Cong spokesman fumbles with facts

But minutes into this evening8217;s briefing, the surprise emerged. The issue chosen was the Wadhwa Commission report on the killing of an Australian missionary and his two children in Orissa, an event which led to the sacking of the Congress8217; longest serving Chief Minister in the country and which lent a horrendous touch to India8217;s secular image 8211; at least for a while.

It was also an issue close to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi8217;s heart. Only, Sibalmade a hash of it. In a sense, as he droned on the subject, Sibal was the fitting image of what is wrong with the Congress: reacting late to an issue the report came days ago, confused stances, uninspiring approach, finger away from the pulse of the media and a general air of smugness.

The Stanies murders, more so the Wadhwa report, is practically a dynamite given its clean chit to the Sangh Parivar and suggesting that the prime accused Dara Singh did everything, from organising Rightist cadres, carrying out campaigns against Christian missionaries etc. Indeed, at one stage, the report suggests that Dara Singh was a hero8217; to the local populace as he had stopped the trade in cattle in deference8217; to Hindi sentiments.

Gripping stuff, if only Sibal had handled it well. Instead, he repeated most of what was in a printed statement anyway, felt that the report was fine except that it drew soft8217; conclusions on hard evidence8217; and made a correct8217; observation that misplaced fundamentalism8217; was the root causeof the killings.

That Wadhwa didn8217;t say who was responsible for the misplaced fundamentalism8217; which guided8217; Dara Singh was skipped by Sibal, he also sent mixed signals 8211; at times suggesting the Congress was unhappy with portions of the report and at other times saying the party had nothing against it.

At the end of 30 minutes, almost everyone present lost track of what Sibal was saying and the general hope was that he would end. Then came a stunning faux pas, a slip of the tongue8217;. Sibal compared Mahatma Gandhi8217;s assassination with the murder of Graham Staines saying in both cases, the killers never admitted which organisation they belonged to.

Godse ji8217;, he said, repeating it, referring to Nathuram Godse, never said he was from the RSS, Sibal explained. It was a horrific slip, granting an honorific on one of the country8217;s most reviled killers, but Sibal made no correction. On he went, holding forth on Godse ji8217; and the rest. A charitable explanation was that it was an unintentional slip, anerror8217;.

But Congress spokespersons have been sacked for errors8217; in the past, like Mani Shankar Aiyer who felt that Emergency was the right thing in 1975. Sibal8217;s fate too should now hang in balance, given the general respect shown, however unintended, for Godse.

But the man, who basically is a friend of Laloo Yadav and Narasimha Rao, he represents both in court cases, had his moment. At the fag end, he got back at an enthusiastic journalist who tried to pin Sibal down on the 1984 riots. The Congress spokesperson hit back referring to L K Advani8217;s alleged involvement in the hawala scam instead.

Not enough, though, to compensate for Godse ji8217;.