After humiliating Chaiwala for the better part of 7 years, Rajkumari Priyanka Gandhi becomes a Chaiwali

The Indian National Congress had self-destructed its electoral fortunes after 2014, as it took to brazenly making personal remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his humble beginnings. Being the party of dynasts and elitists that it is, the Congress thought it perfectly fine to deride PM Modi for having been a ‘chaiwala’ in the past. However, the grand old party’s repeated remarks of the Prime Minister of India being a chaiwala did not go down well with the people of India, as they took to kicking the Congress out of every state in successive elections.

But the Congress simply refuses to learn from its mistakes. While previously the party derided PM Modi, now, it has resorted to ‘chai-optics’ itself. Priyanka Vadra – who is currently General Secretary of the Congress, but more importantly the daughter of Sonia Gandhi, was in Assam on Tuesday. Gandhi on Tuesday interacted with tea garden workers at the Sadhuru tea garden in Assam’s Biswanath and was even seen plucking tea leaves with women workers.

“Understanding your fears & dreams is our priority… Priyanka Gandhi learns the intricacies of tea leaf plucking directly from the women tea workers at Sadhuru tea garden, Assam,” the Congress said in a series of posts on social media platform Twitter. Gandhi also sat down with “brothers and sisters” of the Sadhuru tea garden “to understand their worries and apprehensions, their hopes and aspirations”.

The Congress has recently developed a thing for dancing. Much like her brother, Priyanka Vadra also shook the leg in Assam’s Lakhimpur in the ‘jhoomar’ dance, along with young women of the state’s tea tribes. Dressed in a purple saree and a traditional scarf of the state, Priyanka was all smiles as she danced in the minute-long video. She was surrounded by a bunch of young girls, all dressed in red and white sarees.

The Congress must understand that there is a difference between airdropping its dynastic leaders to indulge in chai-optics and actually provide for oneself by being a chaiwala. From calling the Prime Minister a “neech aadmi” to “khoon ka saudagar”, the Congress has done it all, and now projecting itself as a party which respects the sentiments of those involved in the tea sector of the country will in no way help the coterie of elitists redeem for their distasteful remarks.

The Congress has come a long way, from offering PM Modi to have a tea-stall set up in Delhi to now itself engaging in dances with the tea-tribes of Assam. While the optics have changed, the inherent hatred for the hardworking Indian commoner remains the same.