Smriti Irani hits back at Sonia Gandhi on Quit India speech

New Delhi: While lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's speech in Parliament on the occasion of the Ruth anniversary of Quit India movement as befitting a statesman, Information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani, however, today termed the address by Congress president Sonia Gandhi as a '' a contrived interpretation of India's freedom struggle, attributing greatness only to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.''

''Compared to the statesman-like position voiced by the Prime Minister who recalled the sacrifices of freedom fighters including the Congress’ own stalwarts Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Subhas Chandra Bose - all of Mrs Gandhi’s speech came through as a contrived interpretation of India's freedom struggle. It attributed greatness only to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, whose family she belongs to.

Her partisan approach was obvious in the exclusion of the names of both Subhas Chandra Bose and Vallabhbhai Patel from her speech. Betraying a patently insular slant to her version of the Independence movement, Sonia Gandhi credited only the Congress party, denigrating the contribution of the millions who stood behind the Mahatma in response to his clarion call, courting arrests and indulging in widespread civil disobedience to mark the Quit India movement in 1942,'' Ms Irani said in a post on Facebook.

Terming the speech by the Congress president as ''a long, pitiable lament over the loss of control Nehru dynasty wielded before Congress's defeat in 2014.'' Ms Irani said, ''There are certain events in the life of a people when their representatives are expected to rise above partisan considerations to tap into solidarity, a latent sense of the ‘we’ feeling, that helps forge national identity.

The 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement - a national uprising that convinced the British masters that the people of India had gained a proud assertiveness of a united Self and could not be shackled any longer - definitely qualifies for such a time. But Congress president Sonia Gandhi failed that test of leadership when she chose to reduce her speech in Parliament into a long, pitiable lament over the loss of control Nehru dynasty wielded before Congress's defeat in 2014.''