A controversy has erupted over the interview of BJP PM nominee Narendra Modi by public service broadcaster Doordarshan, which reportedly deleted his comment that Priyanka Gandhi was like his daughter. While the BJP has demanded the telecast of unedited version, Priyanka curtly said “she was Rajiv’s daughter” and did not appreciate the comparison.
“Main Rajiv Gandhi ki beti hoon,” Priyanka said dismissing reported comments by Modi. Priyanka is on her whirlwind poll campaign in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Modi’s interview was telecast on April 27, two days after it was recorded, following a buzz in social media that it was being dropped. During the interview, Modi is reported to have said that over the years he had been “blacked-out” by Doordarshan Kendra in Gujarat and he was surprised to get a request for an interview from the public broadcaster.
The BJP accused the Congress of censoring the media. Party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said, “It is a shame... The Congress claims freedom of speech and such censor happens.” Priyanka, who has taken on Modi with her regular jibes on the extracts of his speeches targeting the Nehru-Gandhi family as well as her husband Robert Vadra, reacted sharply when she was asked by reporters to comment on the remarks by Narendra Modi.
At one public meeting during the campaign, Priyanka replied in the negative when asked whether she was offended and angry over the Gujarat Chief Minister’s comments about her. “No, it doesn’t really anger me....But enough is enough,” she said. “I don’t get offended by anything anyone says.” Asked why Modi is saying such things, she shot back, “He (Modi) would know better than I do.”
“My father died for this country more than 20 years ago. I love him more than I love anybody else in my life. And I don’t appreciate this comparison at all. My father is a martyr. He sacrificed for the country. And in my heart, he can never be compared to any other person,” she added.At another rally, when newsmen asked Priyanka about what bothered her in the ongoing campaigning, she said, “Nothing really. I just think the level of discourse seems to have lowered.” When asked about BJP’s allegation that the Congress has lowered the level of discourse, she said, “That is their point of view not mine.”
Priyanka’s responses came even as senior Congress leader and Finance Minister P Chidambaram said he was not sure if she will consider Modi as a “father figure”. “I am happy that Narendra Modi considers Priyanka Gandhi like his daughter, but I am not sure if she will be happy to consider Modi as a father figure,” Chidambaram said reacting to the media questions at AICC briefing.
Nirmala Sitharaman said it is part of the Indian culture to speak to somebody who is of daughter’s age to say “she is like my daughter”. “It requires a good grounding and belief in Indian culture to say that and to receive and appreciate it. Chidambaramji belongs to the Congress whose DNA probably does not allow to appreciate this gesture of the Indian culture which comes out in our speech. And therefore a scornful comment comes from him,” Nirmala Sitharaman said.
When asked on the editing of Modi’s interview, Chidamabaram said he was not aware of what was said and what was edited. He said his own recent interview to a television channel underwent some editing as “that is prerogative of the editor” of the news channel in terms of the schedule and size of the programme.