In a casteist jibe at PM Modi, NCP chief and former Union Minister of India—Sharad Pawar said that by evicting Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi from her government accommodation at 35 Lodhi Estate—the central government has indulged in “Shudra-level politics”. Shudra is a casteist slur.
For the first time in the 33-year-old history of Shiv Sena mouthpiece–Saamana, it interviewed a political leader not associated with Shiv Sena. In a three-part interview, Sharad Pawar spoke on a range of issues, spanning from the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra to the central government’s move to ask Priyanka Gandhi to vacate her government bungalow.
“Nehru was one of the tallest leaders of the country. His daughter, Indira Gandhi, too sacrificed herself for the nation. Her son Rajiv Gandhi also immensely contributed to the country. A daughter of such a family, after the death of her father Rajiv Gandhi, is trying to consolidate her political party with the help of her mother Sonia Gandhi…There can be political differences over your ideologies but to oust her from her government bungalow is not vendetta politics but low-caste politics,” Sharad Pawar told Associate editor of Saamana, Sanjay Raut.
Responding to Raut’s question that Mamata Banerjee had accused Modi government of indulging in vendetta politics, Sharad Pawar said that the central government has not indulged in vendetta politics but in “low-caste politics”.
According to the former Maharashtra chief minister, the democratic republic of India is a Gandhi family fiefdom and Priyanka Gandhi, by the virtue of her familial lineage, should be entitled to the government accommodation for the rest of her life. Denying the Gandhi family their “privilege” to interminably stay in a government-sponsored bungalow with highly subsidised rent is akin to playing “low-caste politics” as per the NCP chief.
Priyanka Gandhi asked to leave her government accommodation
The remarks from Sharad Pawar came in the wake of a notice served to Priyanka Gandhi, asking her to vacate her government accommodation at 35, Lodhi Estate, which she was continuing to live in despite removal of SPG cover in November last year.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was served a notice to vacate her bungalow provided by the Government of India. She was allocated the bungalow because she was an SPG protectee. In a letter served to her, the Gandhi scion has been given a month time to vacate the bungalow which she has been occupying for the last 23 years as part of the entitlement which came to her along with her maiden name.
Casteist slur at PM Modi
This is not the first time that PM Modi has been subjected to casteist slurs. Earlier too, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had appallingly made casteist remarks against the Prime Minister. In 2017, Aiyar used an objectionable term “neech”- lowly, with casteist slurs for PM Modi.
“Mujhko lagta hai ki ye aadmi bahut neech kisam ka aadmi hai, isme koi sabhyata nahi hai, or aise mauke par is kisam ki gandi rajniti karne ki kya avashyakta hai?” Mani Shankar Aiyar had said for PM Modi during the campaigning for the Gujarat elections in 2017.
