Congress General Secretary for UP East, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, has become an element of humour on Twitter lately. On a day when Kashmiri Pandits celebrated the beginning of the new year, Priyanka Vadra wished them by tweeting “Nauroz Mubarak” instead of Navreh. Since this incident, trolls have not stopped rolling on social media.
The tweet has been re-tweeted by several users with terms like “Chunavi Hindu” used for the Congress General Secretary. It is evident that the party and its members are doing anything and everything to impress the citizens. Priyanka Vadra stepped into the election campaign to support her brother, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and defeat the ruling party in the Uttar Pradesh region. The last resort to save the sinking ship of the Congress; does not seem to really work. The leader who aimed to woo voters had left no stone unturned to do so. This tweet of Priyanka Vadra is a faux pas that social media is not going to let her forget soon.
Awww Chunavi Hindu, Navreh is festival of Pandits while Navroz is a festival of Shia Muslims. Ask your PR team to do better homework next time! https://t.co/hnvUDM2E56
— Vikas Pandey (Sankrityayan) Modi ji’s Family (@MODIfiedVikas) April 6, 2019
Nouroz is the Iranian New Year festival that is celebrated by Parsis all over the world. The festival that Priyanka intended to refer to was Navreh. Navreh is a festival that is celebrated by the Kashmiri Pandits. The amusing aspect of the narrative is that Priyanka Vadra is partly Kashmiri Pandit from her maternal side.
https://twitter.com/ashokepandit/status/1114380802371018752
While she tried to prove to be a dedicated Kashmiri Pandit, she seems to be a little confused as far as festivals are concerned. The Parsi New Year is celebrated in the month of March. The users and followers on Twitter also took a dig at her when Priyanka Vadra mentioned about her mother, the Congress Supremo Sonia Gandhi of decorating the Navreh Thali. She said that despite several reminders by her mother, she had no time to prepare a Thali. The leader was thrilled in explaining how her mother did not forget and presented the Thali when she woke up.
Nauroz Mubarak to all my Kashmiri sisters and brothers!! Despite my mother’s “don’t forget to make the thali” messages, I had no time to make my thaali yesterday but came home after road show and found it placed on the dining table. How sweet are mom’s? pic.twitter.com/Lix2hCVS8f
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) April 6, 2019
There are claims that the picture put up by the Congress General Secretary is not even authentic. According to those who trolled Priyanka said that the picture was downloaded from Google. They also said “Ask your PR team to do better homework next time!” on her tweet. While she is seen to help her brother and the party perform well, such incidents on the verge of the elections can cost the family and the party a great deal. This is a generation where social media holds a strong hold on moulding minds of the citizens. It is imperative for parties and party leaders to be extremely cautious about what they say and post on the platform.