'Woke ideas have taken over': BJP's Swapan Dasgupta as Priyanka Gandhi carries 'Palestine' bag

BJP leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta on Tuesday lashed out at Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi for carrying a handbag to Parliament emblazoned with the word "Palestine". "I initially imagined that Rahul was the impressionable Gandhi, but Priyanka’s Palestine tote bag prompts the conclusion that woke ideas have taken over the family. In the Indian context, it also means celebrating Islamist victimhood," he tweeted.

On Monday, in a show of support for the people of Palestine, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was seen carrying a handbag emblazoned with the word "Palestine" and Palestinian emblems, including a watermelon — symbolising Palestinian solidarity. Gandhi has been vocal about Israel’s actions in Gaza and expressed solidarity with Palestinians, raising her voice against the Israeli government's actions in the region.

BJP Lok Sabha member Anurag Thakur hit out at Gandhi for her choice. "She did not speak a word on atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh but wants to make a fashion statement with the Palestine bag," he claimed. 

In response to the backlash from BJP leaders, Priyanka Gandhi hit back, saying, "Tell them that they should do something about the atrocities that are happening on minorities—Hindus and Christians—in Bangladesh. Talk to the Bangladesh government and stop these atrocities." 

Abed Elrazeg Abu Jazer, the Charge d'affaires of the Palestine Embassy in New Delhi, last week called on Gandhi to congratulate her on her recent Lok Sabha bypoll victory from Kerala's Wayanad.

In June this year, Gandhi slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what she described as the Israel government's "genocidal actions" in Gaza. She accused him and his government of "barbarism" following Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress defending Israel's ongoing war in Gaza. "Their actions are unacceptable in a world that professes civility and morality," Gandhi wrote in a post on X.

Former Pakistan minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain praised Priyanka Gandhi for her choice, describing her as the "granddaughter of a towering freedom fighter like Jawaharlal Nehru, standing tall amidst pigmies."