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India asks Swedish daily to withdraw President Pranab's remarks on Bofors scam

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 27, May 2015, 17:35 pm IST | UPDATED: 27, May 2015, 17:35 pm IST

India asks Swedish daily to withdraw President Pranab's remarks on Bofors scam New Delhi: India has reportedly asked Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter to withdraw President Pranab Mukherjee's remarks made on the Bofors case.

The Swedish daily had published President's remarks made during an interview to its editor-in-chief Peter Wolodarski, in which Mukherjee reportedly stated that the Bofors scandal had not been proved in any Indian court and that the case had just been a media trial.

Dagens Nyheter claimed that Indian envoy to Sweden and Latvia Banashri Bose Harrison has written a letter to it asking the paper to delete the reference made to Bofors case.

The Swedish daily said the Indian envoy even warned that the controversy over President's remarks could even affect his state visit later this week.

Mukherjee is leaving for Sweden on May 31 for a state visit. He was invited by the King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf.

In the letter dated May 25, 2015, Bose reportedly said that the newspaper failed to show the President the “courtesy and respect” that he deserves as the head of state.

“It was both unprofessional and unethical on your part to include in the report an off the record correction made by the President after the interview had ended, about a slip of the tongue during the interview.”

The newspaper has, however, defended the publication of President's remarks.

“In a telephone conversation with DN (Dangens Nyheter) prior to the publication of the article the Ambassador made a direct request that DN was to retract sections of the interview mentioning Bofors. She also warned that the planned state visit was at risk of being cancelled,” Dangens Nyheter said in a report published on its website.

The report further quotes Wolodarski as telling the Indian ambassador “...that we couldn’t accept her demands. The President became engaged and was upset when Bofors was mentioned during a question regarding how we can avoid corruption today. Of course we had to tell our readers about his reaction”.

“The reactions in Indian media show that his answers are of public interest, even more so in India than in Sweden,” the report adds.

Reacting to the Indian protest, Wolodarski says: “I find the Ambassador’s reaction regretful. It is surprising that someone representing the world's largest democracies is trying to micromanage which questions we should ask a head of state, and which answers should be published.”

Speaking to Dagens Nyhetter, Mukherjee had said on being asked whether the Bofors case had been a media trial: "First of all - it is yet to be to be established that there was a scandal. No Indian court has established it. I was the defence minister of the country long after Bofors, and all my generals certified that this is one of the best guns we are having. Till today, Indian Army is using it. The so-called scandal which you talk of, yes, in the media, it was there. There was a media trial. But I'm afraid, let us not be too much carried by publicity."

The President had refused to comment on whether the Bofors scam was only a media scandal, but had added, "I do not know. I'm not describing it, you're putting that word. Don't put that word. What I am saying is that in media it was publicised. But up to now, no Indian court has given any decisive verdict about the alleged scandal."

The Indian government had inked the $285 million deal with Swedish arms company Bofors in 1986 to supply 155mm howitzer field guns.

However, Swedish media later claimed that Indian officials including politicians and defence personnel had received kick-backs to approve the deal. The scandal eventually led to then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's defeat in elections three years later.