Minister of External Affairs of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, historian Ramachandra Guha, Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Jairam Ramesh were involved in a Twitter war on Thursday, on whether or not did Jawaharlal Nehru intend to exclude Sardar Vallabhai Patel from his Cabinet.
It all started after Jaishankar posted a picture of him launching Narayani Basu’s biography VP Menon : The Unsung Architect of Modern India on Wednesday. He tweeted,"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."
In a series of tweets, the Foreign Minister said that he learnt from the book that Nehru did not want Patel in his Cabinet in 1947 and omitted him from the initial Cabinet list. "Clearly, a subject for much debate," he added.
Ramachandra Guha called Jaishankar's new learning as a myth. Guha also slammed the minister for promoting fake news, he wrote, "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."
Jaishankar, however, did not leave it there, he asked Guha to read the book. He tweeted, "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."
Later, Guha shared a picture of a letter, dating August 1, 1947, in which Nehru invited Patel to join the first Cabinet of free India.
Guha further asked Jaishankar to consult books he read during his Ph.D at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He wrote, "Sir, since you have a Ph D from JNU you must surely have read more books than me. Among them must have been the published correspondence of Nehru and Patel which documents how Nehru wanted Patel as the “strongest pillar” of his first Cabinet. Do consult those books again."
Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Shashi Tharoor also jumped into the debate. Ramesh, shared a series of letters and documents, telling the "truth". "In light of the fake news doing the rounds that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru did not want Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in his cabinet, sharing a series of letters & documents," he wrote.
Shashi Tharoor shared Srinath Raghavan's article, which reads, "Nehru never excluded Patel from cabinet list. Louis Mountbatten and V.P. Menon got it wrong".
"Jai, I have the highest regard for VP Menon, a hero of Indian Independence from my state, but human recollections can be wrong. Read this carefully documented refutation of the "Patel's omission from Cabinet" story (for which VPM was the only source)," wrote Tharoor.
