Priyanka's speech: Shades of Indira, packing a punch, yet succinct

As the opening speaker from the Opposition benches on the ‘Constitution debate’ in Lok Sabha, on Friday (December 13), Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi packed a punch. At just 32 minutes, the Wayanad MP’s maiden speech was combative yet composed and succinct but stinging and, in style, reminiscent of the interventions in Parliament by her grandmother, the late Indira Gandhi.

Speaking after Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the motion to discuss the ‘glorious journey’ of 75 years of India’s Constitution, Priyanka touched upon every theme that the Congress and her brother, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, have used in recent years to corner Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. However, she did so without the animated grandstanding, rancour and hyperbole that have, unfortunately, come to dominate parliamentary discourse in these bitterly polarised times.

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Widely acknowledged as a better orator and more astute politician compared to her brother, Priyanka kept her intervention deeply political, drawing heavily from her own lived experiences as also those of the common people she meets in public life but without ever slipping into the philosophical lectures and churlish attacks that have come to define Rahul’s oratory, both inside Parliament and outside it.

Minces no words

Priyanka minced no words in slamming the Modi regime for “handing over everything” to one man (controversial industrialist Gautam Adani) and for “reaping” electoral dividends through politics of “hate, fear, intimidation and muzzling dissent.” Yet, unlike Rahul, she did so without waving any photographs or placards or relying on the Hindu iconography of Abhay Mudra, Chakravyuh, etc., to make her point.

Also Read: Constitution, Nehru, Adani: Priyanka tears into Modi govt in 32-min debut LS speech

Unlike most leaders of her party who either go on the defensive or erupt into grating protests each time the Treasury Benches seek to remind the Congress of the “mistakes” of Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi’s imposition of Emergency, Priyanka chose to address both criticisms with stoic poise.

'Only harps about the past'

She asked the BJP why it “only harps about the past” instead of talking about the present and telling the country “what you have done” and wondered “why is everything Nehru’s responsibility” even now.

When members of the Treasury Benches sought to interrupt her with barbs about Indira’s undermining of the Constitution with the imposition of the Emergency, Priyanka shot back, saying, “Why don’t you draw lessons (from it)... why don’t you apologise for your mistakes?” It may not have been an unqualified apology, but Priyanka’s retort was as good an admission of regret as realistically possible from a member of the Gandhi family of the excesses of the Emergency.

Also Read: Watch: Priyanka Gandhi's fiery maiden LS speech during Constitution debate; takes on Modi

'Underming' Constitution

Drawing on anecdotes from her interactions with victims of violence and state oppression due to caste, gender or religion, the Wayanad MP also slammed the government for its “silence on Hathras, Sambhal and Manipur” while asserting that the only source of strength that such victims have to continue fighting for their rights is the Constitution, which she accused the BJP of routinely “assaulting and undermining.”

Priyanka slammed the BJP for “creating an atmosphere of fear, muzzling criticism, destabilising elected governments and intimidating political rivals” by misusing probe agencies but added, “fear has its own nature... those who spread fear are always the ones who are afraid of discussion, debate and criticism.”

In a brutal yet calm takedown of the Prime Minister, Priyanka said, “We have all heard the story of the king who used to dress up as a commoner and visit people to understand their problems and listen to their complaints; the king of today loves to dress up but he neither believes in meeting common people nor in listening to criticism.”

She also slammed the BJP for its “failure to understand that the Constitution of India is not legislation drawn up by the RSS (Bharat ka Samvidhaan Sangh ka vidhaan nahi hai).”