New Delhi: Days after she made her maiden speech in Parliament, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra appealed to the Modi government to raise with its counterparts in Bangladesh the issue of attacks on religious minorities in the neighbouring country. 

Speaking in the Lok Sabha during Zero House Monday, she also criticised the decision to relocate the famous painting, depicting Pakistan’s surrender to India in the 1971 War, from the Army Chief’s annexe in South Block. Later, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat responded to Priyanka, saying that the painting has been shifted to Manekshaw Centre.

Inside the Lower House, Priyanka rose to intervene during Zero Hour. She started her speech by paying tribute to those who laid down their lives in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Each year, 16 December is observed as Vijay Divas in memory of Pakistan’s surrender to India on that day in 1971.

She also remembered her grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, referring to her as a “great martyr” who ‘showed courage in the most difficult of times and led India to victory in the war against Pakistan.

“At the time, India stood alone. It was not granted a hearing anywhere in the world. No one listened to the voices of our Bengali brothers and sisters in Bangladesh. It was then that the people of India stood with their Army, their leadership and their principles,” she said.

The Congress party also staged a demonstration on Parliament premises to highlight the issue of increase in attacks on religious minorities in Bangladesh since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government.

Before Priyanka rose to speak in Lok Sabha, the chair allowed BJP MP from Jharkhand’s Godda Nishikant Dubey who while praising Indira Gandhi also criticised the former Prime Minister for not giving Jagjivan Ram—who was defence minister at the time of the 1971 War—his rightful due. “Today is 16 December and on this day Bangladesh secured Independence. The Indian Army, its soldiers and the leadership at the time did something very big. The Indian Army took as many as 93,000 Pakistani soldiers as prisoners and later released them. And the same Bangladesh where Pakistan killed democracy, we established it. But through you madam chairperson, I want to tell the country that in this movement, Nazrul Islam, the royal family, king, of Tripura and former Congress chief minister Mukul Sangma … and the biggest contribution, that of Babu Jagjivan Ram who was defence minister at the time … history has forgotten them,” he said.

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Row over Palestine handbag

A vocal critic of Israel’s actions during the ongoing war in Gaza, Priyanka was also criticised for carrying a bag emblazoned with the word ‘Palestine’ and symbols of Palestinian solidarity. 

In July, she had described Tel Aviv’s actions as “genocidal” and called on the global community to “force them [Israel] to stop”. Last week, she met Abed Elrazeg Abu Jazer, Charge d’affaires of the Palestine Embassy in New Delhi, who congratulated her on being elected to Parliament.

Reacting to her decision to express support for Palestine, Gulam Ali Khatana, a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, told news agency IANS, “People do such things for news; when they have been rejected by the people, they resort to such actions.”

Amit Malviya, in-charge of BJP’s national information and technology department, went even further to say the “Congress is the New Muslim League”.

“She is a bigger disaster than Rahul Gandhi, who thinks sporting a bag in support of Palestine in the Parliament, is about fighting patriarchy … Crass communal virtue signaling to Muslims is now cloaked as stance against patriarchy,” Malviya wrote on X, reacting to Priyanka’s response to Khatana’s remark—she had termed it “typical patriarchy”.

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