New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran LK Advani on Thursday took a jibe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying he had recently missed an opportunity to "distance" himself from the atrocities inflicted on the media during the 1975-77 Emergency.
Both Manmohan Singh and Advani were present at a function earlier this week to mark the birth centenary of Puran Chandra Gupta, founder of the Dainik Jagran newspaper.
The prime minister released a book and a postage stamp on Gupta, who was jailed during the Emergency.
"I do not know if the PM had occasion to glance through this book, or if any one had mentioned to him that the Jagran editors were arrested because they had firmly opposed the Emergency," Advani said in his latest blog posting.
"If he (PM) had been briefed about all this, he would have done a signal service to democracy if he had referred to the facts in his laudatory references to the Jagran founder. By omitting to do so, he has really missed an opportunity to distance himself from the worst assault inflicted on press freedom in the history of independent India," he added.
Advani too was jailed during Emergency.
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