New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday brushed aside the uproar regarding a viral video from his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ in Jharkhand, where where he appears to offer biscuits rejected by a dog to a party worker.
Rahul clarified that he had approached the dog and its owner “because the dog was shivering” and then “handed over the biscuit to the owner” as the dog seemed scared. “I called the dog and the owner. The dog was nervous, shivering and when I tried to feed it, the dog got scared. So I gave biscuits to the dog’s owner and the dog ate them from his hand. I don’t understand what’s the issue with it,” Gandhi said.
In a video posted by Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on its X (formerly Twitter) handle on February 4, Rahul is seen petting and giving a biscuit to the puppy. It, however, does not show him handing the dog biscuit to the dog owner.
The video shared by the BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya, however, presented the incident in a different light. This video concentrates solely on the dog declining the biscuit, following which Gandhi seemingly passes it to a supporter. It omits what occurred thereafter. The clip swiftly gained traction, triggering a fervent debate and drawing criticism from BJP leaders, who accused Gandhi of showing disrespect to his supporters. “If a party whose president and crown prince treats its part workers like dogs, then it is natural for such a party to disappear,” Malviya said.
अभी कुछ दिन पहले कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष खड़गे जी ने पार्टी के बूथ एजेंटों की तुलना कुत्तों से की और यहाँ राहुल गांधी अपनी यात्रा में एक कुत्ते को बिस्किट खिला रहे हैं और जब कुत्ते ने नहीं खाया तो वही बिस्किट उन्होंने अपने कार्यकर्ता को दे दिया।
जिस पार्टी का अध्यक्ष और युवराज अपने… pic.twitter.com/70Mn2TEHrx
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) February 5, 2024
He also linked the occurrence to a recent statement made by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, purportedly comparing party workers to dogs. “Just a few days ago… Congress President compared… booth agents to dogs… now Rahul Gandhi is feeding biscuits to a dog… when the dog did not eat, he gave the same biscuits to his worker,” Malviya wrote on X.
Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was earlier with the Congress, also launched a fresh attack on Rahul over the incident, stating that he and his family couldn’t influence him to “eat the biscuit”. “I am a proud Assamese and Indian. I refused to eat and resigned from the Congress,” he said.
The Assam CM has often recounted an earlier incident where he claimed that during a meeting with Rahul Gandhi, the latter’s pet dog, Pidi, had biscuits from a plate, which was served to the Congress leaders present. He had cited the lack of seriousness about party matters on part of Rahul as one of the reasons for quitting Congress.
Earlier, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Rahul Gandhi were involved in a war of words over the Assam leg of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra last month.
