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Journalism of Courage
Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has now come under attack from an unlikely quarter — a Rajasthan minister’s son, who accused him of allegedly insulting the country from the foreign soil. During his just-concluded UK tour, Rahul has drawn a similar criticism from the BJP.
Taking to Twitter Wednesday, Rajasthan tourism minister Vishvendra Singh’s son Anirudh fired salvos at Rahul. Tagging a news report quoting Rahul as saying at an event in London, organised in the Grand Committee Room of the British House of Commons, that “Mikes in our Parliament are silenced”, Anirudh tweeted: “He has gone bonkers. Who insults one’s own country in another country’s Parliament. Or perhaps he considers Italy his homeland.” Rahul’s mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi was born in Italy.
Tagging another report on Rahul’s remark at a separate London event that the BJP would not be in power “eternally”, Anirudh tweeted, “Can he not speak all this garbage in India? Or he genetically prefers European soil?”
His tweets may have triggered a row on social media, drawing flak from some Congress activists, but Anirudh, who is known to be a staunch Sachin Pilot loyalist, is not new to controversy. Senior state Congress leader Pilot has been an arch rival of veteran party leader and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Late last year, Anirudh was castigated by a section of Jats for claiming that his family originated from Jadaun Rajputs of Karauli. He is the scion of the erstwhile royal family of Bharatpur which traces its lineage from the 18th century Jat ruler Maharaja Surajmal, who was said to have established the kingdom of Bharatpur.
“A lot of debate over what I said in a virtual podcast hosted by @RajveerChalkoi Ji a few evenings ago on Maharaja Suraj Mal Ji. There is no doubt that our family originated from Karauli and then went on to founding Bharatpur, our own state. One should never try to hide origins,” he had said in December last year.
As it led to protests within the Jat community, including from the Jat Mahasabha which termed his statement a “historic mistake”, Anirudh referred to a 1935 book, “Memoranda of Indian States” to back his claims. Citing some paragraphs from the book, he stated: “Talking about the #Bharatpur family, we are descendants of Shri Krishna, we are Jats, but the origins are as follows. There are many sources to this claim but this is the easiest to interpret. I hope this clarifies all the debate. I stick to my stand.”
In May 2021, Anirudh had accused his father of getting “violent” towards his mother and turning to alcohol.
“I have not been in touch with my father for 6 weeks now. He has turned violent toward my mother, collected debt, turned [to] alcohol, and destroyed the businesses of friends who are supporting me. It is not just a difference of political ideologies,” he had charged, targeting Vishvendra Singh.
In 2020, Vishvendra was one of the most prominent Congress MLAs to have rebelled with Pilot against the Gehlot government. He was the tourism minister even then, with the Congress leadership stripping him of his position over his bid to rally for Pilot’s rebellion that came a cropper.
Later, Vishvendra was reinducted by Gehlot into his ministry, following which he apparently grew closer to the CM than Pilot.
Earlier, Vishvendra was also known for not pulling his punches on social media, where he often used to openly reprimand his department officials. He had however gone off social media for several months after Pilot’s unsuccessful revolt.
Anirudh, who has completed his post-graduation from a London university, describes himself as following “Sachin Pilot school of thought on most matters surrounding Rajasthan”.
