'Do you read?' war escalates: Ramachandra Guha responds to Jaishankar, invokes his JNU PhD

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and historian Ramachandra on Thursday have engaged in a war of words on Twitter on whether or not Sardar Vallabhai Patel had ever been excluded from Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet. Ramachandra Guha, continuing the spat and responding to Jaishankar's "Some Professors should read some books too" jibe, has asked the foreign minister to "consult" the books he must have read during his days at JNU.

'You must surely have read more books than me'

Ramachandra Guha said, "Sir since you have a PhD from JNU you must surely have read more books than me. Among them must have been the published correspondence of Nehru and Patel which documents how Nehru wanted Patel as the “strongest pillar” of his first Cabinet. Do consult those books again."

Guha also replied with a letter that Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to Patel inviting him to join his cabinet. Jaishankar is yet to respond to this.

On Wednesday, Jaishankar attended the launch of Narayani Basu’s biography 'VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India' and said he learnt from the book that “Nehru did not want Patel in the Cabinet in 1947 and omitted him from the initial Cabinet list.” Guha on Thursday tried to correct Jaishankar’s statement, calling it a “myth” and accused him promoting “fake news”.

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'Some Foreign Ministers do read books'

The External Affairs Minister taking a subtle dig at Guha’s credentials said, “Some Foreign Ministers do read books. Maybe a good habit for some Professors too. In that case, strongly recommend the one I released yesterday.”

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