Sharmistha Mukherjee, the daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee, recently wrote an open letter addressed to senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, drawing his attention to abuses hurled at herself and her late father by a Congress supporter, followed by many senior Congress leaders.
“Since the publication of my book ‘Pranab My Father: A Daughter Remembers’ a month back, I and my father have been subjected to vicious and continuous trolling by your supporters on social media. The book contains some observations about you made in my father’s diaries which are not very complimentary,” she wrote in her open letter.
Since then, Ms Mukherjee has been at the receiving end of unmitigated abuses and sexual innuendos, with many purporting to be Congress supporters reviling her for her book that contains the former President’s views about Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party. Ms Mukherjee underlined that being a passionate supporter of Freedom of Expression, Rahul Gandhi should take action against those who are abusing her and her father.
“However, as you seem to be a torchbearer of Freedom of Expression, you should know that FoE involves not just praising someone, but also the ability to tolerate criticism gracefully. But you seem to have failed miserably to convince even your own followers of one of the most crucial Rights granted by our Constitution, which is also one of the core values of Congress. Your favourite slogan of ‘Nafrat ke Bazaar me Mohabbat ki Dukan’ also seems to fall on deaf ears of your own followers as they unleash all their ‘Nafrat’ on anyone daring to criticize you,” she further added.
Mukherjee took to X to share the picture of her open letter to Mr Rahul Gandhi and screenshots of abusive posts made by one Naveen Shahi, whom she said is a close associate of Congress and is followed by several senior Congress leaders.
My open letter 2 @RahulGandhi reg me & my father, a former President of India being subjected 2 vilest abuse with sexual connotation by @Naveen_Kr_Shahi who seem 2 b a close associate of Congress as he’s followed by many senior leaders & host of INC SM team members pic.twitter.com/kOwqWozlFd
— Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) February 9, 2024
Highlighting Naveen Shahi’s abusive posts against her father in her letter, Mukherjee wrote, “But every limit was crossed yesterday when one of your alleged supporters called Naveen Shahi having X handle of @Naveen_Kr_Shahi who is followed by several senior Congress leaders like Pawan Khera, Ajay Maken, Srinivas BV and many other verified handles from INC Social Media dept. abused my father Shri Pranab Mukherjee and me in such a vile language that I feel nausea even to repeat it. In a series of tweets, he called me licentious, and repeatedly wrote that ‘Pranab’ was a ‘chu**** , a licentious person, insinuating that he was a sexual pervert willing to accept even the dogs.”
The daughter of Pranab Mukherjee said since Rahul Gandhi is talking about NYAY in his yatra, she is demanding NYAY from him as the abuses originated from a person associated, formally or informally, with his organisation.
“I demand Nyay as a woman, who herself, and whose father (leaving aside the fact that he was a former President of India) have been subjected to character assassination and the most vile abuses having sexual connotations. To show that you are serious about Nyay, please take action against this person Naveen Shahi, and all the others who reacted positively to his abuses, against your social media head and your communication head for allowing this kind of language and abuse,” Ms Mukherjee wrote in her letter to Rahul Gandhi.
She further added that FoE involves everyone’s right to criticise her but it doesn’t give them any liberty to abuse her or use foul language against her.
“But as you publicly claim to be the ‘upholder’ of tolerance and liberal values of Congress, I decided to bring to your notice the behaviour of your followers in case you haven’t noticed it as yet; not just vis a vis me, but vis a vis any of your real or imaginary opponents, including the media,” she further added.
