Before leaving for West Bengal for campaigning, Madhya Pradesh’s Medical Education minister Vishwas Sarang ruffled feathers in political circles claiming that once late PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s favourite brand of cigarette was brought to Bhopal from Indore by an airplane. The minister based his charge on a document from the Bhopal Raj Bhavan archive.
Sarang tweeted an old incident of MP Raj Bhavan and later spoke to News18 India saying once the late PM Nehru was coming to Bhopal and Raj Bhavan staff realised that his favourite brand (555) cigarette was not available so a plane was sent to Indore for bringing the same as Pt Nehru had a habit of smoking after his meals.
The staff immediately sent a plane to Indore for airlifting Nehru’s favourite packet of 555 cigarettes which was kept ready at the Indore airport, read the document furnished by the minister.
The incident, the minister claimed, is available on the Raj Bhavan website from the tenure of then Governor Hari Vinayak Pataskar.
“The Nehru family grabbed the Gandhi surname but never imbibed his ideas and views. We heard that Nehru’s clothes were sent to a laundry in Paris and his cigarette was brought from planes which shows his lavish lifestyle,” said the minister.
“There are leaders who identify them as Gandhians but their ancestor Nehru led a life of luxury." He added the history was not written by his party but by a party that appointed the governor and ruled the state.
Congress party hit back at BJP saying the latter has a sad part that it had no history while it was Pt Nehru who contributed to India’s freedom and offered a foundation to the country which is why democracy still prevails in the country.
“It’s only an attempt to mislead the public," said former Congress minister Jaivardhan Singh adding that his party would write to the governor against the minister’s remarks.
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