The political dispute over Rahul Gandhi’s hug with Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit and his criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy continued on Saturday, with BJP MP Nishikant Dubey bringing Jawaharlal Nehru into the controversy by posting old photographs of India’s first Prime Minister.
Dubey shared a series of pictures on X with the caption, “Some pictures from a book in my library about the Nehru-Gandhi family.” The photographs included Nehru with his sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, his niece Nayantara Sahgal and former US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Although Dubey did not refer to the photographs as “kiss” pictures, his post appeared to suggest that they depicted Nehru in intimate moments with the women.
The Congress responded by arguing that the photographs were being circulated without their proper context.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said one photograph showed Nehru receiving a kiss on the cheek from his sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, while another featured his niece Nayantara Sahgal. She also identified a March 1962 photograph in which Nehru was applying colours to Jacqueline Kennedy during Holi.
“The women in your house should also stay safe from you – savage beast,” Shrinate said while responding sharply to Dubey.
Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi also criticised the BJP MP, accusing him of selectively using photographs to target the Nehru-Gandhi family.
He said Jawaharlal Nehru and his family had for decades been subjected to a campaign involving selective photographs, insinuations and deliberate distortions intended to create a particular political narrative.
Singhvi described Dubey’s latest post as another example of what he called defamatory politics, arguing that a family greeting could not be treated as a scandal and that an old photograph did not establish wrongdoing.
The latest exchange is part of a broader political confrontation surrounding Rahul Gandhi’s public appearance with Sandeep Dikshit, during which the Congress leader hugged Dikshit and subsequently took a swipe at Modi’s foreign policy.
On Friday, Dubey had also posted photographs of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in response to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks about Modi’s hugs.
Dubey additionally shared a widely circulated photograph of Rahul Gandhi hugging Modi in the Lok Sabha eight years ago. Alongside the picture, he made a provocative remark questioning whether Gandhi had interpreted the embrace as a physical sensation or something more suggestive.
The BJP MP’s posts have reignited the familiar social media battle between the BJP and Congress over historical photographs. The BJP has been using images involving Congress leaders and their families to make political arguments, while the Congress has responded by providing context and accusing its rival of deliberately distorting the images.
RAHUL GANDHI MOCKS PM’S HUG WITH FOREIGN LEADERS
Dubey’s latest attack came shortly after Rahul Gandhi criticised Modi’s foreign policy at the Rachnatmak Congress national convention on Thursday evening.
Rahul Gandhi said he could not understand where the Prime Minister had got the notion that foreign policy involved hugging international leaders. He then hugged Sandeep Dikshit to illustrate his argument.
“Imagine the ignorance... where did he get the idea that foreign policy was about hugging leaders?” Rahul Gandhi said.
Dikshit then jokingly asked Gandhi whether he had mistaken him for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Rahul Gandhi responded, “I haven’t reached that point yet.”
