New Delhi: Lord Mountbatten's daughter, Pamela Mountbatten’s remarks in an interview to CNN-IBN seem to be setting off a storm.
The Congress and historians have rubbished Pamela’s claim that her father used Edwina's deep love with Nehru to influence him on Kashmir.
"I think it could have been my father, just in a dry conversation might have been able to get his viewpoint over. But with my mother translating it for Pandit ji and making, you know, appealing to his heart more than his mind, that he should really behave like this, I think probably that did happen," Pamela said.
And while that may be the well-kept secret of the Kashmir issue for Lord Mountbatten's daughter, for historians and the Indian National Congress, her revelation is nothing more than rubbish.
"That is true and he did use her like that. But he certainly wasn't going to throw her, he didn't say to her ‘go become the Prime Minister's lover because I need you to intercede’. It was a by-product of this deep affection,” she said.
For the Congress, this admission is just a gimmick to sell a book.
“There are three types of lies. Lies, damn lies and what to tell to sell a book. It’s unfortunate that when you talk about an icon whose heart bleeds for India, you connect it with the publicity of a book. It’s very unfortunate and I think we rubbish it for whatever it’s worth,” says Congress leader, Tom Vadakkan.
And historians like Bipan Chandra and Ramchandra Guha agree with the political party.
“There is absolutely no evidence that I have found during the course of my research that our policy on Kashmir or Pakistan was in slightest way influenced by this relationship,” says historian Ramchandra Guha.
When it comes to history, politicians often taken a politically convenient line than the one nearest to the truth.
But, then, biographers have also been accused of fictionalising reality to increase sales.
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