New Delhi: Just the other day, the daughter of BJP MP from Bhubaneswar Aparajita Sarangi made headlines for publicly cheering the resignation of Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan as per the demands of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led agitation involving the Gen-Z of India.
Now, another BJP leader’s daughter has come forward to support the unprecedented protests at Jantar Mantar that led to the Central government agreeing to all demands.
Yashaswinee Raje Singh, daughter of Vikram Singh, former MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur Sadar, had herself participated in the student protests at Jantar Mantar.
A content creator, Yashaswinee said the new Education minister Pralhad Joshi was a “bleak joke”.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Yashaswinee called Pradhan more of a martyr than someone who is remorseful, slamming the BJP MP from Odisha’s Sambalpur for his choice of words in the resignation letter wherein he mentioned that his decision was to ensure “anti-national forces” don’t exploit the situation.
“It’s really, really short-sighted to be viewing the resignation as sort of this watershed moment,” she said.
Despite claiming she was sexually assaulted while attending the CJP protest at Jantar Mantar on July 24, Yashaswinee praised the CJP for galvanising the “apolitical audience” through memes, innovative messaging and Instagram.
Asked about her situation at home and dynamics with her father, Yashaswinee said that she doesn’t discuss politics with him. Being financially independent, Yashaswinee stressed she lives on her own and has not been to her dad’s constituency for several years.
“I choose not to participate in that sort of environment at all. I have not visited there (Fatehpur Sadar) for many years. So I maintain a very, very large sort of chasm between all of that and myself. And that is how I am able to say the things I do without feeling like a hypocrite,” Yashaswinee revealed.
Sarangi’s daughter Archita Sachin Rahar earlier shared a story on Instagram with the caption, “My family is with DP (Dharmendra Pradhan) but I am with students.”
In no time, the post went viral with many social media users claiming that many from Pradhan’s team had reached out to Sarangi, asking for her daughter’s post to be taken down.
Archita’s Instagram later became unavailable.
Another BJP leader whose daughter supported the CJP is
Assam Revenue minister Keshab Mahanta’s daughter Dibisa Mahanta also supported the CJP movement, with viral videos showing her marching with the demonstrators, placards in hand, demanding Pradhan’s resignation. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma urged people not to troll his minister, arguing that once children become adults, their actions should not be linked with their parents.