In a recent turn of events, the political landscape witnessed a sharp rebuke from the Vice President toward Congress leaders for their relentless criticism of Prime Minister Modi.
The trigger for this stern criticism stemmed after a video clip of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar greeting the Prime Minister uploaded by the Congress party’s social media handles went viral on 6 December.
“Disliking a political figure should never escalate to disrespecting institutions,” remarked the Vice President during his address, emphasizing the need for decorum and respect within the political sphere. He further highlighted the detrimental impact such negativity could have. “I want to clarify that bowing and greeting is my habit. I do not see who is in front of me. You are all very respectful. Sometimes I feel pained. There is a limit to stooping low. I can also express my pain and anguish but the dangerous part is that when I did so with one of the senior leaders it resulted in a more challenging scenario as it was put on Twitter,” the Rajya Sabha Chairman said without referring to any political party or individuals by name.
Recently on 28 November, Congress accused the Vice president of “sycophancy”. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, equating Mahatma Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as epoch makers, faced accusations of sycophancy from the Congress. Congress MP and Lok Sabha whip Manickam Tagore tweeted a clip of Dhankhar’s speech, expressing disapproval, stating, “Comparing (Modi) with Mahatma is shameful, sir. We all recognize there is a boundary to sycophancy.”
On 28 July 2022, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s “Rashtrapatni” comment on the President Droupadi Murmu caused an uproar in the Parliament. A video clip of Chowdhury speaking with a national TV channel went viral where he said, “India’s Rashtrapati… Rashtrapatni was for everyone.”
“Ever since Droupadi Murmu was nominated for the president post, she was targeted maliciously by Congress and the attacks do not seem to stop against her even after being elected as the President”, Smriti Irani said.
Dating back to 2019, on 14 March, Divya Spandana, the head of social media and communications for the Congress party, posted a meme that has the potential to escalate the verbal sparring between Congress and BJP. Regarded as a close associate of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Spandana shared a meme characterizing supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as unintelligent. Accompanying the meme was a tweet featuring the Prime Minister’s picture with superimposed text stating, “Did you know? 1 out of 3 Modi supporters are just as stupid as the other two.”
In September 2018, Spandana faced sedition charges for a tweet where she referred to the Prime Minister as a “thief.” The tweet featured a manipulated image showing the Prime Minister writing the word “chor” (thief) on the forehead of his statue and was captioned, “#ChorPMChupHai.”
The Congress leaders have crossed their line due to their dislike of PM Modi . This latest tweet is an example of their negativity but the Vice President not only criticised their approach but has called out the party for its repeated insults and dishonour towards institutions.
