External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and cricket historian Ramachandra Guha on Thursday exchanged some sharp words on micro-blogging site twitter.
The Minister tweeted on Wednesday about the release of the biography of a former civil servant VP Menon written by Narayani Basu.
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. pic.twitter.com/SrCBMtuEMx
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) February 12, 2020
He went on to describe that the book mentions the fact that Sardar Vallabhai Patel wasn’t initially favoured by then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and didn’t find a mention in the first list of cabinet ministers.
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He also stressed on the need to revisit certain historical events and study them closely from an unbiased perspective.
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
This did not go down well with cricket historian and acclaimed author Ramachandra Guha who lashed out on Thursday at the “fake narrative” being peddled and questioned the need to drag two builders of modern India and paint a negative image of their relationship they shared and also said that this is normally the work of a BJP IT cell member and doesn’t befit External Affairs Minister of the nation to do so.
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 (@DrSJaishankar) February 13, 2020
Dr Jaishankar then on Thursday, gently replied some foreign ministers are in the habit of reading books and stated that it is perhaps a good habit for professors too to read books and recommended the book written by Basu.