Allahabad: Feroze Gandhi's grave turns pol flashpoint

ALLAHABAD: A couple of days after Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra skipped a visit to the grave of her grandfather Feroze Gandhi, scores of BJYM activists paid floral tributes at the grave in Parsi cemetery on Wednesday, accusing her of ‘playing Hindu card in view of Lok Sabha elections’.

The BJYM activists not only cleaned the cemetery, but also paid obeisance to the late politician. “It is obvious that Priyanka played the Hindu card by visiting Akshyawat and Hanuman temple and calling Ganga her mother in view of LS polls...why else would she not visit the grave of her grandfather and remember him?” said BJYM city president Vinay Kumar Mishra.

“It’s a pity that Priyanka missed visiting a place which is so important for the Congress. This shows the sorry state within the party,” said BJYM vice-president Sachin Mishra, who led the group in paying obeisance at the grave.

Likewise, BJYM has also decided to ‘correct’ another ‘mistake’ made by Priyanka during her visit to Varanasi. “She made a mistake by garlanding the statue of Lal Bahadur Shashtri by the garland which she was wearing. She has to understand that this is not done. We have decided to clean the statue of Shashtri ji and pay floral tribute to him,” he added.

Though Priyanka visited Swaraj Bhawan during her over 12-hour stay in the city, she did skipped the grave of her grandfather. Congress president Rahul Gandhi , accompanied by his uncle Rustom Gandhi, had visited the grave and paid obeisance by placing a wreath on August 29, 2008. However, the event was described as ‘personal’ and not disclosed to the media and Congress workers.