The advice comes days after the BJP’s backlash over Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s ‘Hindu Pakistan’ remark.
New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi has urged spokespersons to refrain from making remarks that may hurt the party’s image, saying “most of the media is hostile to us”.
Gandhi gave the advice at a meeting of 20 party spokespersons and TV panelists Thursday, days after Congress MP Shashi Tharoor found himself facing a volley of barbs for his remarks that a second term for the NDA administration would mean India’s emergence as a ‘Hindu Pakistan’.
Already on the back-foot over its perception as a pro-Muslim party, the Congress was quick to distance itself from the remark, which the BJP said only served to prove that the party was “anti-Hindu”.
The meeting, held at the party’s war room, 15 GRG Road, was attended by seniors P. Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, and Shashi Tharoor, as well as younger leaders R.P.N. Singh, Jaiveer Shergill, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Rajiv Tyagi, among others.
According to sources, before Gandhi, Congress communication in-charge Randeep Surjewala addressed the leaders.
“Leaders should refrain from giving comments that give an opportunity to the media and the BJP to twist them in their favour,” Surjewala was quoted as saying.
Gandhi added, “Most of the media is hostile to us and we face a challenge to present our views strongly and expose the government on various issues.”
“The government and the BJP are trying to propagate negativity and we need to fight this with a positive approach, cornering the government on farmer issues, unemployment, poor economic condition, women’s security and other matters,” he said.
At the two-hour meeting, Gandhi also asked all spokespersons to “speak in one voice” rather than propagating different views on the same subject. “There should be uniformity in comments made by spokespersons and it should appear to be the voice of the Congress,” he was quoted as saying.
Lauding Surjewala for his efforts yet again, Gandhi reportedly also said that, before making comments to the media, spokespersons should go through research material provided by the communications department carefully. He added that the advice extended to the spokespersons for state units as well.
No one upmanship. The battle has to be fought on the hot and dusty plains of Hindustan, not an auditorium in St Stephen’s College. The party should not get into emotive, identity related issues at all. Not sure if the media as a whole is hostile; most of it would probably like to be even handed.