New Delhi: A day after India objected to the manner in which Pranab Mukherjee's interview was presented by the Swedish daily Daygens Nyheter office, journalist Chitra Subramaniam who broke the news of the Bofors scandal expressed shock over the President calling the scam a 'media trial'.
"I find it very shocking and ridiculous that the President called it a media trial because of the office he holds and the type of person he is, he is a remarkable politician. It was not a media trial," Chitra Subramaniam said.
She also added that the President's comments suggesting that no evidence was found in India seems like he is saying that the world is a fool. "It is not only an India story, it is an India, Sweden and Switzerland story. He goes on to say that nobody was found guilty in the Indian court, that was because nobody was allowed to be tried in India. The documents passed the test of the Swiss Court. There was an investigation in Switzerland led by the Swedish National Audit Bureau. The Swedish Police was involved and many Swiss officers were involved including The Swiss office of Justice and the Foreign Office with whom we are now trying to get the documents. If the President now says that there was no evidence in India, then he is saying that the whole world was a fool," she said.
In an interview to Daygens Nyheter, the President had reportedly said that Bofors scam was a media trial that could not be proven in any Indian court.
But more than a day after the interview was carried by the newspaper, India lodged a protest by accusing the national daily for misrepresenting Mukhrejee's comments. The President's office said that instead of highlighting the importance of the visit, the interview chose to divert the attention to other issues.
"Instead of highlighting the importance of first ever presidential visit from the world's largest and fastest growing democracy to Sweden, you have chosen to divert attention to other issues in a patronizing and flippant manner. Unethical to include an off the record correction about a slip of the tongue," the statement from the President's office said.
Replying to the rebuttal by India, Daygens Nyheter Editor said, "It is surprising that someone representing the world's largest democracy is trying to micromanage which questions we should ask a head of state, and which answers should be published. We have conducted the interview in the same manner as we do whenever we interview other heads of state and government."
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