India upset with Swedish daily over President Mukherjee's interview; is his visit at risk?

New Delhi, May 27: India expressed its disappointment with Swedish daily Dagens Nyhetter for putting up "slip of the tongue" comments made by President Pranab Mukherjee during an interview to it, saying it was done in the "most condescending" manner and was not either professional nor ethical.

Indian envoy to Sweden Banashri Bose Harrison told the daily's Editor-in-Chief Peter Wolodarski in a letter that she was asked to convey the disappointment over the way the interview was presented.

In the letter, she said it was unprofessional and unethical to include an off-the-record correction made by the Indian president about a slip of the tongue after the interview got over. She said the daily sympathised with him first and then included the correction in the report, something which a leading newspaper is not expected to do.

During the interview ahead of his visit to Sweden later this month, Mukherjee remarked that the Bofors wasn't a scandal, but rather a publicity "trial".

The scandal involving the procurement of 155mm howitzer field Bofors guns from Sweden led to the downfall of Rajiv Gandhi's majority government in the late 1980s and he had to face defeat in the next election in 1989.

The envoy also said that President Mukherjee was not shown the courtesy and respect that he deserved as the head of a state. She also said that the planned visit to Sweden by the Indian president was at risk.

Wolodarski said India was trying to micromanage which questions to ask and which answers to be published.

Oneindia News