So after much hullabaloo, the Congress inducted Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into the party and surprisingly appointed her as the general secretary of the same. She would supervise the election campaign for Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Needless to say, the left-liberal ecosystem was up and working in her praise. Intellectuals, who would otherwise go hammer and tongs after BJP or RSS were singing infinite praises of the new heir to the Nehru Gandhi brand of politics, as shown below:-
Priyanka Gandhi: My Life, My Politics. Even if I say so myself- this is the most indepth interview she's ever done. If you want to know Priyanka the person, this is the one to watch again when we flopped on the grass under a tree in Amethi #PriyankaGandhi https://t.co/XCZJSCw6bc
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) January 23, 2019
The impact of Priyanka’s formal entry into politics. Tonight at 9 pic.twitter.com/nPTL8f339e
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) January 23, 2019
Priyanka has defied the playbook of dynastic politics by choosing for her debut East UP, Cong’s toughest political geography, instead of a safe family seat
Won’t revive Cong in UP, but such audacity is rare among risk-averse dynasties
My #TheFactivist https://t.co/bhVtOKM8jp
— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) January 24, 2019
Indira Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi’s last moments together. From my book ‘Indira, India’s Most Powerful Prime Minister ‘ https://t.co/QAW9b4nr1K
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) January 24, 2019
However, what was most surprising was when Rajdeep Sardesai praised Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. In a tweet, he posted the following:-
The entry of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into politics appears to have excited the media and Cong workers, sent the political universe and news channels into a tizzy! Time for a Song for the night.. https://t.co/L6BB16TMTU gnight, shubhratri..
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) January 23, 2019
This tweet was not only amusing but extremely surprising since Rajdeep Sardesai had once been extremely harsh towards Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. It all began in 2014 when Rajdeep was a delegate at the Tata Literature Live Festival. In response to the queries of controversial socialite Shobhaa De, he had surprisingly taken potshots at the Gandhi family, as he termed Priyanka Gandhi as an ‘item girl’.
To quote his response, “Priyanka Gandhi does politics like an item girl. The Gandhis need to realise that people want a leader who engages 24×7. Modi has got that right from the beginning.”
If this wasn’t enough, Rajdeep also took dig at the Congress party’s election campaign as he further added, “Rahul Gandhi is great to go out for a drink with to Bombay Gymkhana, but he is not Prime Ministerial material. Sonia Gandhi is being this Italian mother with her son. She’s lost touch with reality.
The kind of egalitarianism Manishankar Aiyar’s statement, calling Modi a chaiwallah, represents is precisely the reason why Congress needs to be disbanded.”
We all know how much charismatic Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been, and how clean she is as she begins her political career. However, it is really surprising that Rajdeep Sardesai is such a hypocrite when it comes to praising her, especially when he addressed her in terms i.e. an item girl for which he would’ve brought the whole house down, had someone else, and especially from the nationalist fold said this. Should we remind you of how you behaved when Mayawati was mocked prior to 2017 elections and during the Kathua case, Mr. Sardesai? Are you not being equally sexist here?
This is not for the first time that a left-liberal has shown such hypocrisy. Be it Sanjay Nirupam’s vitriol against the likes of Smriti Irani, or Tehseen Poonawalla’s vulgar diatribes, the entire left-liberal intelligentsia of India is well notorious for being the double face when it comes to discrimination against women. However, the way Rajdeep has switched his gears while praising Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is a real low, even by the left-liberals’ own standards. It would be interesting to see how the Congressmen respond to this.
