Ramachandra Guha, the historian of modern India who writes about everything under the sun, ranging from cricket to environmentalism, was taught a lesson by External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, when he tried to mock him over a tweet on Nehru and Patel.
Yesterday, Jaishankar tweeted about a book launch event where he was the chief guest. “Released an absorbing biography of VP Menon by @narayani_basu. Sharp contrast between Patel’s Menon and Nehru’s Menon. Much awaited justice done to a truly historical figure,” tweeted Jaishankar on the launch of the book- VP Menon : The Unsung Architect of Modern India.
Learnt from the book that Nehru did not want Patel in the Cabinet in 1947 and omitted him from the initial Cabinet list. Clearly, a subject for much debate. Noted that the author stood her ground on this revelation. pic.twitter.com/FelAMUZxFL
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (Modi Ka Parivar) (@DrSJaishankar) February 12, 2020
He also pointed out that, Nehru omitted Patel from the list of cabinet minister, as per argument of the book. “Learnt from the book that Nehru did not want Patel in the Cabinet in 1947 and omitted him from the initial Cabinet list. Clearly, a subject for much debate. Noted that the author stood her ground on this revelation,” he added in the tweet.
Ramachandra Guha, the author of popular book India After Gandhi, a book on history of post-independence India, and idolized Jawaharlal Nehru, accused Foreign Minister of promoting fake news and said that he should leave this to BJP IT cell. “This is a myth, that has been comprehensively demolished by Professor Srinath Raghavan in The Print. Besides, promoting fake news about, and false rivalries between, the builders of modern India is not the job of the Foreign Minister. He should leave this to the BJP’s IT Cell,” said Ramachanndra Guha.
This is a myth, that has been comprehensively demolished by Professor Srinath Raghavan in The Print.
Besides, promoting fake news about, and false rivalries between, the builders of modern India is not the job of the Foreign Minister. He should leave this to the BJP’s IT Cell. https://t.co/krAVzmaFkL— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) February 13, 2020
The minister responded to Ramachandra Guha’s accusation and said that some foreign ministers do read books and Professors like Guha should also read books, especially the one he released. “Some Foreign Ministers do read books. May be a good habit for some Professors too. In that case, strongly recommend the one I released yesterday,” tweeted Jaishankar.
Some Foreign Ministers do read books. May be a good habit for some Professors too. In that case, strongly recommend the one I released yesterday. https://t.co/d2Iq4jafsR
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (Modi Ka Parivar) (@DrSJaishankar) February 13, 2020
It must be noted that Dr. Jaishankar is among the most educated politicians and diplomats of the country. He comes from a family that has been very influential in security and strategic affairs of the country. His father, Krishnaswamy Subrahmanyam, a proponent of Realpolitik, was second director of New Delhi based Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses. Born to K Subramanyam, S Jaishankar was educated at Cambridge School Srinivaspuri and St Stephen’s College, New Delhi. He completed MA in political science from and Ph.D. in international relations from JNU, where he specialized in nuclear diplomacy.
He joined Indian Foreign Service in 1977, and has been High Commissioner to Singapore. He also served as Ambassador to China and United States. Jaishankar was appointed as Foreign Secretary of India in January 2015 by Modi government and retired after three year tenure at the post. Modi government made him Minister of External Affairs when it came to power with even greater majority in 2019.
Jaishankar’s family is prominent in the academic and policy circles of India, his brother Sanjay Subrahmanyam is a historian and another brother, S Vijay Kumar, was Rural Development Secretary of India.
Ramachandra Guha was taking potshots at the minister for cheap publicity and was completely destroyed. His agenda to idolize former Prime Minister Nehru and criticize anyone with opposite views got a befitting reply and now he is sharing the screenshots of Nehru’s letter to Patel.
