On Friday, September 1st, the I.N.D.I.A. alliance parties formed five committees as they passed a resolution today in its Mumbai meeting, resolving to fight the upcoming general elections slated for May 2024 ‘together’ but with a loaded caveat: ‘as far as possible’. While the desperation of the anti-Modi parties to somehow defeat the BJP-led NDA alliance is understandable, irony died a painful death when the bloc decided to include Shivsena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi in its Working Group for Research — one of the five committees formed.
The committees formed by the I.N.D.I.A. bloc will address various aspects of their election strategy and outreach initiatives. Among these committees, the Coordination Committee and Election Strategy Committee hold a prominent position in the alliance’s preparations for the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Other than Priyanka Chaturvedi, the research committee includes Congress’s Amit Dubey, RJD’s Subodh Mehta, Shiv Sena-UBT’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, NCP’s Vandana Chavan, JD-U’s K.C. Tyagi, JMM’s Sudivya Kumar Sonu, AAP’s Jasmine Shah, Samajwadi Party’s Alok Ranjan, NC’s Imran Nabi Dar, and PDP’s Aditya. A TMC leader will join the panel later once the party decides.
Priyanka Chaturvedi’s ‘intellect’ and earth-shattering research skills have always been a subject of discussion over social media. Let’s take a look at instances when Priyanka Chaturvedi demonstrated her intellectual capabilities beyond comprehensible levels.
When Priyanka Chaturvedi attacked the Indian Embassy in Poland for an Indian student stranded in Ukraine
In March last year, Priyanka Chaturvedi made a mockery of herself by vilifying the Indian Embassy in Poland in an attempt to highlight the misery of an Indian student stranded in Kyiv, the capital of war-torn Ukraine. Chaturvedi’s desperate attempts to denigrate the Indian Embassy in Warsaw, Poland backfired on her. Netizens took delight in the chance to impart geography lessons to the Shiv Sena MP. The Thackeray family loyalist was schooled by netizens that Kyiv is the capital city of Ukraine and not Poland while many called out Chaturvedi for her lack of understanding of diplomacy.
Priyanka Chaturvedi and her lack of logical reasoning
In August of last year, the I.N.D.I.A. Bloc’s newly appointed research expert fanned controversy over Smriti Irani’s daughter Zoish Irani’s ownership of the Silly Souls restaurant in Goa. Interestingly, Chaturvedi’s attempt to cast aspersions about Zoish Irani came just days after the Delhi High Court had trashed similar accusations brought up by the Congress party. It was clarified by Zoish Irani’s counsel that she was an intern at the said restaurant and did not own it.
When Priyanka Chaturvedi tried to snub Eknath Shinde government over getting ‘support’ from “PKMKB Academy”
Priyanka Chaturvedi is known for her speak first, think later, or just don’t think at all attitude. Exhibiting her disdain for common sense, Chaturvedi in October last year, attempted to take a dig at the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government by sharing a screenshot of a Twitter handle ‘Official PKMKB’ which had lauded the Eknath Shinde government. Chaturvedi who will now be conducting/monitoring research for the I.N.D.I.A. alliance did not bother herself with doing basic research to check that the “OfficialPKMKB” a troll account claiming to be “PKMKB Academy” had its location as Karachi, India instead of Karachi, Pakistan. Apparently, Chaturvedi thought that “PKMKB” is actually an official term although we all know what it is.
Priyanka Chaturvedi and Mathematics: It’s complicated!
Priyanka Chaturvedi has frequently demonstrated her lack of mathematical skills. During the migrant crisis that followed the Coronavirus lockdown, she erroneously stated that the Modi government made a fortune by operating special trains for migrant labourers.
The Sena leader did not understand the distinction between ‘revenue earned’ and ‘profit’. Contrary to Priyanka Chaturvedi’s claims that the Indian Railways made significant profits, the Railways spent Rs 2,142 crore on running Shramik Special trains but received a revenue of only Rs 429 crore and did not incur any ‘profit’. On the contrary, the Modi government lost approximately Rs 1,700 crores after employing Shramik trains for ferrying stranded migrant labourers from various regions of the country.
Furthermore, Chaturvedi incorrectly claimed in 2019 that 15% of all students are dyslexic, with a total population of 228 million. This cannot be true because, according to a 2014 report by TOI, India has nearly 315 million students. This covers high school and college students. Since not all of these students attend school, the number of school-age children is significantly lower. There would be even fewer students with dyslexia, whether diagnosed or undiagnosed.
The list of Priyanka Chaturvedi’s intellectual gems might go on and on, but it should be cause for alarm for the I.N.D.I.A. bloc’s already fragile unity after Chaturvedi joins their research committee ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. There is a verse in Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas that says, “Ja ko prabhu daarun dukh dehi taki mati pahele har lehi,” which implies that when the supreme god intends to cause terrible suffering to someone, he first takes away the person’s intellect.
Despite the bold assertions made by the I.N.D.I.A. bloc leaders, it appears that Narendra Modi’s leadership has its hold on the Indian populace and may achieve a historic prevail in 2024.
