Like Rahul, Vadra also goes on the offensive
New Delhi : The Gandhi family seems to have belatedly realised that an offensive stance is much better than a defensive posture to silence their critics. Days after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi called upon prime minister Narendra Modi to ‘jail him” on the British nationality issue rather than have these slanderous attacks by his chamchas”, now it is the turn of brother-in-law Robert Vadra to assert that he is a ‘political tool’ for the BJP to be used ‘for diverting public attention’ whenever the need arises.
Vadra, who is married to Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s daughter and Rahul’s sister Priyanka, is usually mocked by the BJP as “damaadji” and ‘jeejaji’ by its spokespersons to deflect any criticism of corruption or nepotism. The party-run state governments in Haryana and Rajasthan are probing land deals related to him, and recently Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar had asserted that Vadra would be behind bars within the next few months.
According to Vadra there should be a distinction between him as an individual conducting business like anyone else and the politics of his wife’s family, without always linking the two. “There is a clear-cut political witch-hunt….The more they hound me, the more apparent it is becoming that they are using their attacks on me as a political tool whenever they need to divert public attention,” he claimed.
The BJP has always cited the “Vadra model” of doing business as a route to prosperity through his family connections. But Vadra said: “Debates are repeatedly being held on why I sold certain portions of land for a profit in an area where every single other buyer and seller of land made the same, if not more profit, during the same period of time. Those other transactions were never debated.”
He also said that he has the highest respect for the process of law and would deal with the notices and enquiries in an appropriate manner. “Whatever I have or have not done is in the public domain for everyone to see. Even the so-called facts forming part of media campaigns were based on information that I had myself provided to the ROC (Registrar of Companies) and other agencies,” he observed and added that perception about him seems to have become so deeply embedded that the truth does not matter to anyone anymore.
