Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday slammed the Bharatiya Janta party (BJP) for insulting Rahul Gandhi, son of a ‘martyred prime minister’, by calling a traitor and Mir Jafar. Addressing a gathering at Rajghat — the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi — in Delhi to protest against Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in a 2019 defamation case and his subsequent disqualification from the Lok Sabha, Priyanka also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a “Coward”.
“You call my brother, the son of a martyr, a traitor and Mir Jafar. You insult his mother. Your Chief Minister says Rahul Gandhi doesn’t know who his mother is. You insult my family every day. But no cases are filed,” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said.
The Congress leader flipped the BJP’s pitch against Rahul Gandhi, saying BJP insulted the Gandhi family’s Kashmiri Pandit lineage.
“Your Prime Minister, in a parliament full of people, says ‘why doesn’t this family use the name Nehru name’. He insults the whole family of Kashmiri Pandits, and the custom of a son carrying forward the family’s name after the death of his father,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
She said the time had come to raise a voice against an “arrogant government” as barring Rahul Gandhi from contesting elections does not bode well for the country and its democracy.
“Iss desh ka Pradhan Mantri Kaayar Hai (the Prime Minister of this country is a coward,” she said attacking the BJP-led Centre.
The Congress leader alleged that Rahul Gandhi was disqualified for questioning the prime minister on industrialist Gautam Adani and that people will give a befitting reply to those behind the action.
“My family’s blood has ploughed democracy in this country. We are ready to do anything for this country’s democracy. Great leaders of Congress laid the foundation of democracy in this country.
“Time has come and we are not the ones who will remain silent anymore,” she told the gathering at the “Sankalp Satyagraha” outside Rajghat.
Asking if a martyred prime minister’s son can insult the country, Priyanka Gandhi, “This is an insult to that prime minister who gave his life.”
Top party leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh, P Chidambaram, Salman Khursheed, Ajay Maken, KC Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik Pramod Tiwari, and Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, also participated at party’s protest at Rajghat, despite Delhi police denying permission for the gathering.
Delhi Police maintained a tight vigil in the area and banned large gatherings around the area.
With inputs from News18