Responding to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s speech in the US today, union minister, Smriti Irani, took a jibe at him and said that him attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a foreign country was “deplorable.”
She described Gandhi as “a failed dynast” who “chose to speak about his failed political journey at a prestigious international institution,”. She added that it was “appalling to hear him say ‘this is how India functions’ when asked about dynastic politics. He seems to have forgotten that people around him in all other walks of life, and including in politics, do not follow this in India. In fact, India’s Prime Minister is a man who has risen from a humble background, as have the President and the Vice President.”
The minister added that in the last national elections, in which the BJP had a historic win, Gandhi’s party suffered its biggest defeat and that showed that “India is not dynastic in nature.”
Rahul Gandhi, who began a two-week tour to the US by addressing students at the University of California’s Berkeley today, had been asked about accusations that he is a dynast, when he said, “Most of the country runs like this. That’s how India works.”
He listed several prominent Indians born into famous families saying, “Dynastic politics is a problem in all political parties. Akhilesh (Yadav), (MK) Stalin (son of M Karunanidhi in DMK), Abhishek Bachchan (son of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan) — are all examples of dynastic legacy, also (Mukesh and Anil) Ambani (son of Dhirubhai Ambani), that’s how the entire country is running. Even (Prem Kumar) Dhumal’s son (Anurag Thakur) is a dynast.”
