Patna, (Bihar Times): In a rare development Bihar’s
depurty chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, apologized
to Mohun Guruswamy, economist and advisor of
the Union Finance Minister during the NDA regime.
After this apology the court of Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate, Delhi, Ravider Bedi, asked Modi to pay Rs
one lakh as damage to Guruswamy.
It needs to be mentioned that though Guruswamy was the
advisor in the ministry headed by Jaswant Singh––who
was also of the BJP––yet Sushil Modi, who was then the
leader of opposition in Bihar assembly, attacked him
and alleged that he was Lalu Yadav’s man. Not only
that Modi charged that Guruswamy wants to get a berth
in Rajya Sabha on RJD ticket. In 2004, that is a few
days after the allegation, Guruswamy filed a
defamation suit against Modi and sought his
prosecution.
The bone of contention was a report Economic
Strangulation of Bihar co-authored by Guruswamy and
Abhishek Kaul. The report was published by the Centre
for Policy Alternative, whose chairman, Mr Guruswamy
is. The report held the Centre responsible for the the
deliberate neglect of Bihar. Though Guruswamy was in
the Planning Commission too such a writing by him came
as shock to Modi and his men both in Bihar and Delhi.
Modi while attacking the report charged that it was
authored with the motive of pecuniary benefits. He had
also raised doubts about Guruswamy’s professional
competence and character.
However, on Tuesday Modi apologized to Guruswamy. He
said that the conclusion of the report could be
dissented with and debated “the allegations seem to
have intruded into the statement, in the din and
bustle of the elections by the person preparing the
statement. I do own moral responsibility for it.”
He further said: “I hold Guruswamy in high esteem. I
believe that the personal allegations in the Press
statement were not true and need to be withdrawn...It
is obvious to me that the personal allegations in the
press statement and line of defence caused harassment
and mental agony to you.”
