A VOCAL supporter of Palestine, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Monday carried a bag to Parliament that had an image expressing her solidarity with the cause. While the BJP immediately accused her of “appeasement” politics, Vadra followed that up by leading a protest on Parliament premises demanding “justice for Hindus facing atrocities in Bangladesh”. Vadra claimed that she had given a notice to talk about Vijay Diwas, the day India defeated the Pakistan Army in 1971, leading to the creation of Bangladesh, in the Lok Sabha. But that, after “initial approval”, she was told she could not talk on it as the government would. "Till then, they did not remember and I guess then they gave a chance to (BJP MP) Nishikant Dubey," she told reporters on the Parliament premises. The bag Vadra carried had Palestine written on it, along with the image of a sliced watermelon with colours representative of the Palestine flag, and of a dove, the symbol of peace. Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed shared a photo of Vadra on X, highlighting the bag, and saying: “A gesture of compassion, commitment to justice and humanity!” BJP MP and spokesperson Sambit Patra said the gesture was not a surprise. “As far as Gandhi family members are concerned, it is nothing new. Right from Nehru to Priyanka Vadra, members of the Gandhi family roam around with the bag of appeasement… They have never hung the bag of patriotism on their shoulders. This baggage is the reason behind their defeats,” he said. While Congress has treaded a careful line on the Palestine issue, mindful of how the BJP projects it, Vadra has been outspoken, calling Israeli attacks on Palestine claiming lives of thousands “barbaric” and “genocidal”, and seeking pressure on Israel to end the war. “It is the moral responsibility of every right-thinking individual, including all those Israeli citizens who do not believe in hatred and violence, and every government in the world to condemn the Israeli government’s genocidal actions and force them to stop… Does the consciousness of being human remain? Did it ever exist?” she has said in the past. Vadra had also criticised the Modi government for abstaining from voting on a resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict at the UNGA in October. While the Congress has always been sympathetic to the Palestine cause, the Nehru-Gandhi family is especially so, and had enjoyed close ties with the late Yasser Arafat. In an article in The Hindu in October last year, Sonia Gandhi had also criticised Israel for its military response to the Hamas attack, comparing it to “exacting revenge from a population that is largely as helpless as it is blameless”.
