By Sushil Kutty
“Like Grandfather Nehru…” posted a Pakistani politician who was a minister in the Imran Khan regime. Fawad Hussain, clearly in awe of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, whose Palestine Tote bag and black & white check sari made an emphatic if controversial political statement, and will likely launch a fashion trend, too, if not anywhere else, at least in her parliamentary constituency Wayanad and places nearby where “All eyes On Rafa” has been trending for months since Hamas terrorists fled to Rafa and the Israel Defence Forces followed in hot pursuit.
And who said Pakistan and India are two-nations? They aren’t. Not after Fawad Hussain and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra spoke in one voice. Also, both are as secular as the French and Palestinians are. Hamas, too, if it hadn’t jumped the border and carried out ‘October 7’ – dragged away over 200 hostages including young women, one of whom the Israeli Defence Forces “rescued” and she turned out to be a “Yazidi slave” of a West Bank Palestinian family, “bought from the ISIS.”
Indeed, life in Palestine is full of surprises. From the beehive of tunnels, stretching right into Israel, to the underground bunkers and the arsenal stored under the operating rooms of Gaza hospitals, which keep count of those killed and injured in Israeli bombings. It can’t be Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s fault that she didn’t know all this? There was too much happening in India to keep track. .
To her credit, though, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra went ahead and voiced her solidarity with the people of Palestine, especially the children of Gaza, who the Israeli Defence Forces bombed to death in the thousands. Priyanka met the Palestine Charge-d’-affairs in New Delhi and within the week, she was attired to kill in Palestinian keffiyeh! To those who haven’t seen it, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made a pretty picture!
Of elegance and purpose. Questioned by a wayward reporter, she retorted, “Now, I have to be told what to wear, too?’ The statement she made with the Palestine bag resounded inside and outside Parliament. Pakistanis heard it on the other side of the Wagah. Fawad Chaudhary termed Pakistani MPs spineless for not doing a “Priyanka” in the Pakistan National Assembly, for not coming out bold and clear in solidarity with the “oppressed people of Palestine.”
Just like Priyanka Gandhi, who is today more popular in Pakistan than Bushra Imran Khan. Also to her credit, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra steered clear of Hamas, the vile terrorists who still roam the underground tunnels of Gaza and Rafa, living like rodents deep in the underground warrens. Analysts are asking why Priyanka Gandhi Vadra forgot Hamas while praising the Palestinians? They are questioning Priyanka?
Point is, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra kept her focus on Palestine and Palestinians. And that made her speak of the plight of Bangladesh’s Hindus. Priyanka’s ire was on the Modi government’s total inaction in alleviating the lives of Bangladeshi Hindus? She didn’t question the Modi government’s apathy towards the Palestinians. She questioned Modi’s handling of the Bangladesh crisis.
And she put the focus on Israel’s war on Gaza’s babies? Fawad Hussain identified with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Modi’s ministers did not. Fawad heaped praises on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Modi’s ministers could not see anything beyond their flared-up nostrils. They only saw the Palestine-emblazoned black tote bag that Priyanka carried to Parliament and with it, Palestine!
BJP MP and spokesperson Sambit Patra sat like Buddha and cast asides at Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, calling her now-iconic Palestine bag, ‘Bag of Appeasement!’ Patra didn’t call it ‘Bag of Muslim Appeasement’, very much aware when not to cross the line. Modi’s NDA government and before that the Modi government has been walking a tightrope on Palestine and Israel, racing with the hare and running with the hound. The Modi government is a cleft stick. And it’s always on Modi’s side, always.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, however, is totally on the Palestine side, begging the question, has any of the Nehru-Gandhi family members ever visited Palestine? Shouldn’t Priyanka Vadra invite herself to Palestine? As it is, Priyanka is known to the Palestinian embassy in New Delhi. It will be crowning glory if she makes a historic trip.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s black tote bag with Palestine emblazoned on it has on its bottom right corner the image of the Jordan River, and the Sea! Who hasn’t heard of ‘From the River to the Sea’, which makes Palestinians raise their fist in solidarity and Israelis clench their fist in anger? Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is lucky she hasn’t heard of ‘from the river to the sea’, an allusion to how numbered the days are for the Israelis. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra couldn’t have been any more emphatic about her support for the Palestine cause.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s ‘Palestine Bag’ should be preserved and protected; kept in a Parliament vault to send a message as that sent by Bhagat Singh and his bunch of freedom-fighters. Fawad Hussain saw Priyanka “standing up against Israel and showing courage” and asked, “What else could we expect from a granddaughter of a towering freedom fighter like Jawaharlal Nehru? Priyanka Gandhi has stood tall amidst pygmies, such shame that to date, no Pakistani member of Parliament has demonstrated such courage.”
Pakistani Fawad Chaudhary not only saw ‘Palestine’ emblazoned on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s tote bag, he also saw the slice of the watermelon, one of many Palestinian emblems. AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi took his oath with a ‘Jai Palestine’ and but for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s ‘Palestine bag’, the people of India wouldn’t have heard of the “atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh.” Right? (IPA Service)
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