As Renuka Chowdhury’s Rajya Sabha term comes to an end, she certainly will be missed in the upper house. Her peers, especially her bosses, will miss her for her courageous attempts to defend the indefensible. Those on the treasury benches will miss their favorite punching bag.
Renuka Chowdhury was given a fitting farewell by the chairman of the house, vice-president Venkaiah Naidu, on Wednesday. Venkaiah Naidu is known for his presence of mind, his quick wit and his acerbic sense of humor. Surprisingly, the incident didn’t make much of a splash. The mainstream media largely refrained from covering it, and politically-correct snowflakes who get offended easily, ignored this hilarious incident.
During her farewell speech, Renuka Chowdhury attempted to take a dig at the vice-president, who has been a veteran leader of the BJP. She said, “He (Venkaiah Naidu) knows me from many kilos before. Sir, many people worry about my weight but in this job, you need to throw your weight around.”
Venkaiah Naidu retorted immediately: “My simple suggestion is, reduce your weight and make efforts to increase the weight of the party.”
Burn! The vice-president once again won our hearts for throwing political correctness in the garbage, and fighting fire with fire. And on top of it, this was hilarious!
Our political class could learn a lesson or two from the likes of Venkaiah Naidu, and even prime minister Modi in this respect. They bring tremendous humor to politics, and they never shy away from taking personal potshots. They don’t care about the self-proclaimed upholders of political correctness, the hypocrites who have double standards about every issue and masquerade as if they are here to save humanity. Incidentally, NDTV was one of the few media outlets that picked up this story, and referred to it as ‘kilo-shaming’ by the vice-president.
Earlier this year, when Renuka Chowdhary had gone on a rampage during the prime minister’s speech in the Rajya Sabha by passing comments and cackling loudly, the vice-president and the prime minister had collectively shown her her place. The vice-president had asked her to visit a hospital. This was followed by the prime minister’s famous takedown, telling the house that it was for the first time that he heard such laughter ever since he had watched the Ramayana.
These comments drew heavy criticism from the usual suspects, and Chowdhury predictably played the victim card. But the fact that the prime minister had not even mentioned which personality of the Ramayana he was referring to but the outrage was full-blown, was proof enough that everyone, including the cabal and Renuka Chowdhury, were quite sure of the personality themselves. After all, everyone heard her laugh, not leaving much room for doubt.
Renuka Chowdhury will be missed. One still remembers how she had valiantly defended Rahul Gandhi when he was caught sleeping in parliament. “It is hot outside, so people usually go inside the Parliament which has air-conditioning and therefore close their eyes to relax,” she had said. Such attempts at defending the indefensible, and how she used to constantly get owned, will surely be missed by either sides.