Baru book stab in back, PM’s daughter says

NEW DELHI: In a sharp indictment of PM’s former media advisor Sanjaya Baru’s controversial account of the Manmohan Singh government, the prime minister’s eldest daughter Upinder Singh has said the book was a huge betrayal of trust.
Baru’s book ‘The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh’ has claimed that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi undercut the PM’s authority and Singh’s refusal to stand his ground reduced him to a spineless figure.
Upinder, who teaches history at Delhi University, said in an interview that the book was “a stab in the back… a huge betrayal of trust’’ and accused Baru of exaggerating his access to the PM to write a “mischievous, unethical’’ book.
Echoing Congress’s criticism of Baru, Upinder said the book was motivated by Baru’s bitter resentment at being denied a PMO position after UPA returned to office in 2009. “If he himself felt betrayed how can he write an objective account? Even if he wants to gain politically by writing such a book, everyone will see that he has betrayed the trust of one prime minister. He has provided fodder to his (prime minister’s) opponents. Will they trust him now? I would not,’’ she said.
“While I am not speaking on behalf of the prime minister, we are extremely angry at the exaggerated level of access the author has ascribed to himself,” she said. “It is an audacious account with so-called quotes, of even the prime minister, which have been recorded as facts. Reported speech has been used as direct speech. Is this ethical?’’
She also argued that the book’s timing – in the middle of general elections – was deliberate. “To me, there are other reasons for the timing. It is absurd to say there is no political motive. Sanjaya Baru cannot describe himself as a well-wisher of the prime minister,’’ she said.
Upinder said she had been assured by Baru that the book would be published after the Lok Sabha polls. “We all knew a book was in the air,” she said, adding “And he (Baru) met me recently at a wedding. When I asked him when the book would be out, he said, ‘naturally, after the elections.’ What we did not know is that he was going to piece together gossip and unverified quotes, including some of my father, and use them as statements of fact,’’ she said.
Upinder said Baru presented himself as more central to the scheme of things in PMO than he actually was. “He is holding forth and projecting himself in the centre of events which is not true and he had no access to files… I spot an element of self-promotion in these assertions,’’ she said.
While Upinder clarified that she did not want to discuss specific events or episodes described in the book, she said, “The impression I have is that the relation between the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi is one of utmost trust and respect. The book also gives an impression that the prime minister wanted to cling to office in his second term. This is such a misreading of his personality.’’