Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s political debut may have been delayed, but it has definitely made an impact. Soon after her maiden speech in the Lok Sabha – which interestingly enough was about the Constitution – she was back on her feet (on the floor of the House), this time to commemorate India’s win over Pakistan in the 1971 war. If you recall, this led to the liberation of Bangladesh and is celebrated as Vijay Diwas. And of course, Priyanka did not hesitate to give credit for that win to where it is due – to the soldiers who fought the war and to late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who took the hard decision to fight for Bangladesh. Giving credit to the late Congress leader is something which naturally did not go down well with the BJP. In fact later on, while interacting with the media, Priyanka pointed out that BJP was not keen to commemorate a win that happened under the Congress watch but it was only after her (Priyanka’s) notice asking to speak on the motion, that the Treasury Benches got BJP MP, Nishikant Dubey to say something on the topic.
This is a marked hallmark of Priyanka’s politics, which is to stop letting the BJP take the upper hand on the Congress past. By repeatedly referring to the Congress party’s obsession with one dynasty the BJP has taken the high ground by naming other leaders from the past who have contributed to India’s growth and freedom but were not given the same prominence by the Congress. This in turn led to Congress leaders being a shade defensive about the achievements of the dynasty specially Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. Both positions are extreme.
Moreover, Priyanka’s strong resemblance to her grand-mother brings an added overtone of the Congress past and that is a link she plays on, both subconsciously and in a conscious effort. And why not?
There is no denying that Priyanka is now the most sought after Congress MP. Everything she does or says, makes news and she knows well how to play her opponents. Even her accessories are under scrutiny – she was criticised for carrying a Support Palestine tote bag to Parliament. When the BJP commented that this was an extension of appeasement politics, she shot back saying that the criticism itself reflected the patriarchal mindset of the BJP, telling women what to wear and what not to wear.
Her maiden speech hit a chord both for its substance and delivery. Few know this but it was Rahul Gandhi’s decision to field Priyanka in the all important debate on the constitution. Initially party leaders had requested Rahul to lead the debate since the constitution is a topic that he has been raising ever since the recent Lok Sabha elections . However later that night on the eve of the debate the party was informed that it would be Priyanka who would be initiating the debate on behalf of the Opposition. It was a solid platform and a big ticket issue. In fact this surprised even her colleagues who were expecting her maiden speech to be a soft launch on some issue regarding Wayanad (her constituency) or about women. But Priyanka showed that she was quite capable of hitting the ground running and her speech met all the requisite expectations, on both delivery and content
Certainly the Opposition benches have benefited with Priyanka’s entry into the Lok Sabha, leading one to ask, what took the Congress so long to launch one of its most promising leaders.
