A once-bitten-twice-shy Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who was recently removed as a party spokesperson for praising prime minister Narendra Modi, chose to avoid commenting on Robert Vadra. dna asked him about Congress president Sonia Gandhi, businessman son-in-law's angry outburst and intimidation on Saturday when asked about investigations into his land deals. "I haven't seen this clip and I'm not aware of what happened so I can't comment," said the tech-savvy Tharoor.
A part of a discussion on dynastic politics – Gone with the Gandhis, Tharoor was joined by journalist-writers Shekhar Gupta and Pranay Gupte, on the last day of the Tata Literature Live festival. Though Gupta too felt, "It might not be most appropriate to thrust a mike into his face when Vadra was only inaugurating a gym," he was more forthcoming. "The Nehru-Gandhi family and the Congress party never tires of calling him a private citizen and yet look at his entitlements. If he wants those privileges then he must be able to face uncomfortable questions too."
He particularly brought up the issue of Vadra's exalted exempt-from-frisking-at-airports status. "That has been like a finger in eye for most people for 10 long years. I have seen senior politicians like Chidambaram, not only okay to frisking but also standing in line with everyone at airports and yet Vadra's name was put up on boards at airports for this special privilege."
Tharoor tried to defend Vadra by saying this was something that SPG wanted and not the Nehru-Gandhi family. "They may have fears of an attempt on his life when being frisked," he offered, only to be contradicted by Gupta who said, "If he wanted, Vadra could have got his name removed from the boards but he didn't."
At this point, a member of the audience shouted across that the new NDA government too has still not taken steps to actually strip Vadra of this privilege. Gupte too wanted to know what Vadra did "apart from counting money."
The discussion moderated by senior TV journalist Barkha Dutt, which saw a packed Prithvi theatre on
Sunday morning saw her asking why the Thackerays and Yadavs, were not pilloried as much as Nehru-Gandhi clan for a dynastic approach. "Is it merely because they are seen as pan-national dynasty?" she wanted to know. Gutpa said, "Most of the hue and cry over dynasty begins only when they are down and out. When they were in power everyone was lining up to get exclusive interviews and access." He felt those in power use this access as dole to keep everyone including the media on tight leash. "The recent Diwali Milan was one of lowest points for Indian journalism as senior editors jostled for selfies with the PM."
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