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Sisterly advice for Varun
On a two-day visit to this constituency to campaign for her mother Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra provided her view of the controversy surrounding cousin Varun Gandhi’s provocative speeches in his constituency Pilibhit, which heaped scorn and abuse on Muslims.
On a two-day visit to this constituency to campaign for her mother Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra provided her view of the controversy surrounding cousin Varun Gandhi’s provocative speeches in his constituency Pilibhit, which heaped scorn and abuse on Muslims.
“I would advise Varun to read the Gita,” she said, a riposte to Varun’s assertion in his speech, swearing by the Gita, that he would ‘cut off’ any hand raised against Hindus. “Bhagwan ki vani ko achhi tarah samjhe (he should try and understand the divine verses properly).”
Speaking to newsmen at Bachhrawan town within the Rae Bareli constituency, 60 km south of Lucknow, Priyanka said Varun’s statements had saddened her. “They are clearly against the principles our family has stood for, and members of our family have lived and died for.”
Clad in a cream coloured sari with an orange border, exuding vivacity and grace, Priyanka drove down from Lucknow, arriving around 11 am. She offered prayers at a nearby Hanuman temple before holding closed-door meetings with Congress workers in different parts of the constituency through the day.
“The code of conduct is very important,” she emphasised repeatedly to them, the very code Varun has been accused of violating. “It must be followed in letter and spirit.”
