Sharply attacking the full-page anti-Sonia advertisement published in the New York Times on October 6, the Indian National Overseas Congress has asked if the paper broke its own internal standards of refraining from accepting ads involving defamatory personal attacks.

In a letter sent to Times, INOC President Surinder S Malhotra said the advertisement was in poor taste and full of false, malicious and demeaning statements which attacked Congress President Sonia Gandhi [Images] in a 'very personal way.'

Malhotra added that the advertisement was sponsored by a, "fringe group of extreme Hindu nationalists who have found refuge in this country and whose campaigns work to undermine the democratic and pluralistic framework of India."

The letter was released by the INOC and has not been published in the Times so far. The advertisement was taken out by the Gandhi Heritage Foundation.

The foundation also held a demonstration on October 2, the day Sonia addressed the United Nations General Assembly, which was observing Mahatma Gandhi's [Images] birth anniversary as International Day of Non-Violence