Congress on Priyanka’s non-Gandhi president remark — it’s a year old, context different today

Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the context today is to ‘take on the vicious attack on India’s polity by Modi-Shah dispensation’.

File image of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra | Photo: ANI

New Delhi: An interview given by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for a book, in which she said a non-Gandhi should be Congress president, has gone viral on social media, but the party has clarified that it was “a year-old remark”, and that the context today is different.

“We at @INCIndia appreciate the sudden media interest(egged on by BJP) in a year old remark (Dated 1st July, 2019) of Smt. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The context today is to take on the vicious attack on India’s polity by Modi-Shah dispensation & fight it fearlessly on front foot,” Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted Wednesday.

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We at @INCIndia appreciate the sudden media interest(egged on by BJP) in a year old remark (Dated 1st July, 2019) of Smt. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

The context today is to take on the vicious attack on India’s polity by Modi-Shah dispensation & fight it fearlessly on front foot https://t.co/TwiAAUcTaz

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) August 19, 2020

The interview is featured in the book India Tomorrow: Conversations with the Next Generation of Political Leaders, authored by Pradeep Chibber and Harsh Shah, which was published on 13 August 2020. In the interview, Priyanka Gandhi has said she would have no qualms about working under a non-Gandhi Congress president, referring to her brother Rahul Gandhi’s resignation as party chief after last year’s Lok Sabha election debacle.

“Perhaps not in the (resignation) letter but elsewhere, he has said that none of us should be the president of the party and I am in full agreement with him,” Priyanka said. “I think that the party should find its own path also.”

Priyanka, one of the Congress’ general secretaries, also spoke of how she would follow the instructions of a potential non-Gandhi president, who would be her “boss”.

“If he (party president) tells me tomorrow that he doesn’t want me in Uttar Pradesh but wants me to be in Andaman and Nicobar, then I would jolly well go to Andaman and Nicobar,” she has been quoted as saying.

Paeans to Sonia and Rahul

Surjewala further said the “Nehru-Gandhi family has held together & served Congress unmindful of the trappings of power”, and that both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi sacrificed their posts to serve the party.

Nehru-Gandhi family has held together & served @INCIndia unmindful of the trappings of power.

In 2004, Sonia Ji set an example by sacrificing power to serve the Party.

In 2019, Rahul Ji showed the courage of conviction & stepped down as INC President
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— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) August 19, 2020

There have been multiple reports that Rahul Gandhi has been planning to resume the position of Congress president, but while Surjewala did not say that explicitly, he did say it is Rahul’s “fearlessness & uncompromising courage that INC requires, workers respect & nation needs”.

“Millions of Congress workers & leaders have seen that Sh. Rahul Gandhi has led the fight tirelessly, undaunted by the setbacks & vile attacks by Modi Govt on a daily basis,” he said.

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Millions of Congress workers & leaders have seen that Sh. Rahul Gandhi has led the fight tireleesly, undaunted by the setbacks & vile attacks by Modi Govt on a daily basis.

It is this fearlessness & uncompromising courage that INC requires, Workers respect & Nation needs. https://t.co/SD72NgUoky

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) August 19, 2020