Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s daughter, historian Upinder Singh, lashed out at her father’s former media adviser, Sanjaya Baru, in an interview with The Indian Express published on Tuesday.
Ms. Singh called Mr. Baru’s book, The Accidental Prime Minister , “nothing but a stab in the back … a huge betrayal of trust” and a “mischievous, unethical” exercise.
She said the timing, as well as the contents of the book, raised issues of the author violating both the trust of the Prime Minister and the access he enjoyed. She stressed that while she was not speaking on behalf of her father, the family was “extremely angry at the exaggerated level of access the author has ascribed to himself.”
“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.”
Countering Mr. Baru’s statement that the publisher had decided the timing of the book’s release, she said: “I have written several books and know that authors have a say in the timing of the release. It is absurd to say there is no political motive. Sanjaya Baru cannot describe himself as a well-wisher of the Prime Minister.”
