'Master distorian' active in Nehru bashing to divert attention from serious issues: Cong slams PM
New Delhi(PTI): Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his veiled criticism of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress said on Tuesday that even on the first prime minister's death anniversary, the "master distorian" is active in "Nehru-bashing" and attempting to divert attention from serious issues that confront the country.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh also asked why is the prime minister silent on US President Donald Trump's statements -- made eight times in 11 days -- on the "ceasefire" between India and Pakistan that forced Operation Sindoor to stop.
"Even on Nehru's death anniversary the nation's supreme (mis) leader and master distorian is active in Nehru-bashing. This is a pathetic attempt at diverting attention from very many serious issues that confront us today, which he must answer," Ramesh said in a post on X.
Why are the terrorists responsible for the brutal Pahalgam terror attack still moving around somewhere -- more so since they were reportedly involved in terror attacks in Poonch (December 2023), Gagangir (October 2024) and Gulmarg (October 2024), he asked.
"Why is the PM silent on the US President's statements -- 8 in 11 days -- on the ceasefire between India and Pakistan that forced Operation Sindoor to stop?" he asked.
"Why is the PM quiet on the deep military nexus between China and Pakistan, that has now become more apparent than ever before -- the very same China to whom he had given a clean chit on June 19, 2020 publicly and with whom India has continued to have rising a trade deficit?" the Congress leader asked further.
He also questioned Modi's silence on the "growing hyphenation" of India with Pakistan and the failure of New Delhi's diplomacy and narrative to isolate the neighbouring country.
Ramesh's remarks came after Modi, speaking in Gandhinagar, took a veiled dig at Nehru.
"In 1947, when Maa Bharti was partitioned, 'katni chahiye thi zanjeerein par kaat di gayi bhujayein (chains should have been cut but instead, hands were severed)'. The country was divided into three parts. On that very night, the first terrorist attack took place in Kashmir," Modi said.
"A part of Maa Bharti was captured by Pakistan using terrorists in the name of Mujahideen. If on that day, these Mujahideen were killed, and Sardar Patel's wish was that until we get back PoK, our armed forces should not stop. But no one listened to him and now, we have been facing this (terrorism) for the last 75 years. Pahalgam was also a perverse form of it," the prime minister said.
In an earlier post on X, Ramesh paid tributes to Nehru on his death anniversary and accused the BJP-led government of attempting to diminish his legacy.
"Today is the 61st death anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, who simply refuses to go away in spite of a systematic 6D effort being made -- since 2014 especially -- to defame, distort, deny, denigrate, diminish, and demolish him and his legacy," he said.
Nehru's contributions to the making of a modern India are most fundamental and profound, the Congress leader added.
"He remains a source of great inspiration to all those committed to the idea of an India anchored in the finest of its own composite heritage, an open, liberal and secular democracy with its Constitutional goals of social, economic and political justice, modern science and technology with a scientific temper at its roots and an India that stands exclusive globally by being uncompromisingly inclusive at home," Ramesh said.
"For Nehru, democracy and yet more democracy was the oxygen which gave meaning to our lives, not demagoguery. He was authoritative without being authoritarian. He was not just an outstanding public figure who read, wrote, and shaped history decisively -- perhaps more importantly, a good, decent, large-hearted, reflective, and noble human being with no insecurities whatsoever which he would have to overcome with bluffs, brags, and bombasts as we are seeing daily since May 26, 2014," Ramesh said.
For Nehru, India was one and many at the same time, he added.
Nehru's entire life was devoted to deepening that oneness, while at the same time, celebrating the many diversities that define India, the Congress leader said.
"To reclaim the idea of India that is now under so much assault, we have to reclaim the ideas of Nehru himself," he added.
"Nehru wrote his will and testament ten years before he passed away. It is written in 'sparkling prose' that is so very poetic," Ramesh said.
Nehru is India's longest-serving prime minister, who was at the helm since the country's independence in August 1947 till his death on May 27, 1964.
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Judge issues temporary injunction against Trump administration cancellation of humanities grants
Washington (AP): A district court judge in New York issued a preliminary injunction Friday night stopping the mass cancellation of National Endowment for the Humanities grants to members of the Authors Guild on the grounds that their First Amendment rights were violated.
Judge Colleen McMahon of the US District Court in the Southern District of New York stayed the mass cancellations of grants previously awarded to guild members and ordered that any funds associated with the grants not be reobligated until a trial on the merits of the case is held.
In reaching her decision, the judge said the “defendants terminated the grants based on the recipients' perceived viewpoint, in an effort to drive such views out of the marketplace of ideas. This is most evident by the citation in the Termination Notices to executive orders purporting to combat Radical Indoctrination' and Radical … DEI Programs,' and to further Biological Truth.'”
One of the grants was to a professor writing a book on the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s and 1980s. On a spreadsheet entitled “Copy of NEH Active Grants,” the government flagged the work as being connected to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, McMahon wrote.
The judge said several other history projects on the spreadsheet were also canceled in part because of their connection to DEI-related subjects.
“Far be it from this Court to deny the right of the Administration to focus NEH priorities on American history and exceptionalism as the year of our semiquincentennial approaches,” McMahon said. “Such refocusing is ordinarily a matter of agency discretion. But agency discretion does not include discretion to violate the First Amendment. Nor does not give the Government the right to edit history.“
McMahon said some of the grantees lost grants simply because they had received them during the Biden administration.
The Guild filed a class action lawsuit in May against the NEH and the Department of Government Efficiency for terminating grants that had already been appropriated by Congress.
The humanities groups' lawsuit said DOGE brought the core work of the humanities councils “to a screeching halt” this spring when it terminated its grant program.
The lawsuit was among several filed by humanities groups and historical, research and library associations to try to stop funding cuts and the dissolution of federal agencies and organizations.
McMahon noted her injunction is narrowly tailored “to maintain the status quo until we can decide whether Plaintiffs are entitled to ultimate relief. It does nothing more.”
The judge denied a temporary injunction request from the American Council of Learned Societies, as well as several of their claims in the lawsuit. Their case included the American Historical Association and the Modern Language Association.
