Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have different styles of address and should not be subject to comparison, senior Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury said in an interview to a news channel. Chowdhury was reacting to the comparison being made between the two Gandhi siblings after the latter’s fiery parliament speech went viral.
Many media and political observers viewed Priyanka Gandhi’s speech as structured and composed while her brother — who has been in politics for decades — was perceived to be argumentative and direct, especially when targeting policies or institutional issues.
“They are like apples and oranges” who cannot and should not be compared, Renuka Chowdhury told NDTV.
The Congress leader said that the fact that the two leaders were speaking on different subjects needs to be taken into consideration. Any comparison, thus, is “psychobabble”, though the people concerned are “entitled to their opinion”, she added.
“Priyanka Gandhi is very good, hands on. She has spoken what she had spoken. Rahul spoke on a different subject. His style is different,” Renuka Chowdhury said.
“This is oranges and apples and one can’t compare. It doesn’t work like that. These are different narratives to be told,” she pointed out.
“We are so stereotypical that we expect a certain response and it has to be that way and no other way. It doesn’t happen like that. Different people address things differently. I think each one stood their ground and raised what was imperative,” Renuka Chowdhury added.
When asked who is the better speaker, the Congress leader refused to be drawn in, reiterating that one is not necessarily better or worse than the other, because they are too different.
‘PM in office since 12 years, Nehru spent same number of years in jail for country’: Priyanka
During a debate on Vande Mataram in Lok Sabha on Monday, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hit out at the BJP-led government, questioning its intention and asking it to address people’s issues instead of delving into the past, while putting up a strong defence for Jawaharlal Nehru against attacks from the ruling side.
“We are having this debate here today for two reasons. Firstly, the Bengal elections are approaching, and our Prime Minister wants to play his role in them. And the second reason is…that the government wants an opportunity to level new accusations against those who fought for freedom, who made great sacrifices for the country, and it wants to divert the country’s attention from the burning issues of the people,” she said.
“The truth is that today Modi is no longer the Prime Minister he used to be. The truth is, it has become evident that his self-confidence is waning, his policies are weakening the country, and my colleagues in the ruling party are silent because, deep down, they too agree with this,” she said, adding the PM gives “good speeches but he is weak on facts”.
I will decide what to say: Amit Shah vs Rahul Gandhi in Parliament
Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi engaged in heated face-off during Lok Sabha proceedings on Wednesday after the Congress MP interrupted the Union Home Minister’s speech to challenge him to a debate on alleged vote theft. The clash took place when the Lok Sabha was discussing electoral reforms.
“I challenge you to have a debate on my press conferences,” Gandhi said. Shah shot back immediately, “He (Rahul Gandhi) cannot decide what I speak, he has to learn to be patient. I will decide the order of my speech, I decide what to speak”.
The heated exchanged took place when Shah said the opposition was worried over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) as it would delete the names of illegal immigrants who vote for them.