Priyanka Gandhi Vadra takes centre stage as Congress protests disqualification of Rahul Gandhi

The Congress on Sunday staged nation-wide protests against the Modi government over Rahul Gandhi's court conviction and disqualification from the Lok Sabha. At the main 'Sankalp Satyagraha' at Raj Ghat, also in the backdrop of uncertainty on his electoral career, Gandhi's sister, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, conspicuously took the centre-stage.

Vadra called PM Modi "coward" and "arrogant", and alleged that the case and judgement against her brother happened "fast" after he targeted the PM in the Lok Sabha over the Adani issue.

"Wah Wah, Wah Wah, lots of courage. You are a coward. The PM of this country is a coward. File a case against me and take me to jail," Vadra said. "He is hiding behind the power. He is arrogant. But this country has a long tradition, a tradition of Hindu religion, of people answering an arrogant raja (king), of people spotting an arrogant raja and people responding from their hearts. Today marks the beginning of change," she said.

Her posture, tone and tenor soon set chatter in Congress circles and many of them also noted how party president chief Mallikarjun Kharge earlier started his speech by referring to Vadra as "our leader Priyanka Gandhi ji".

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were not present at the event.

Vadra tried to counter the "dynasty" tag on the Gandhi family by evoking Lord Ram and Pandavas and subtly compared Rahul Gandhi's predicament to Ram's "vanvas". "You accuse us of parivarwad (dynasty). What was Bhagwan Ram? He was sent to vanvas. He did his duty for his family and the world. Was Bhagwan Ram a parivarwadi? Were Pandavas dynasts because they fought for the tradition of their family? Should we now feel ashamed because our family members martyred for this country and shed their blood for this country? Blood of my family members has nurtured the democracy of this country."

She said after branding Rahul Gandhi as "Pappu", the BJP realised "he was not a Pappu" and, after his Bharat Jodo Yatta and questions to the PM, it became sacred.

She said her family members had martyred for the country and their blood nurtured its democracy.

Accusing the ruling dispensation of insulting Rahul and the Gandhi family and still getting away, Vadra said: "You call my brother, the son of a martyr, a traitor and Mir Jafar. You insult his mother. You insult my family every day. But no cases are filed against such people (who made such remarks)."

She also stressed on her family's Kashmiri Pandit roots. "Your Prime Minister, in a Parliament full of people, asked 'why doesn't this family use the surname Nehru'. He insults the whole family of Kashmiri Pandits, and the custom of a son carrying forward the family's name after the death of his father."

The Congress is now mulling more agitations, including a likely 'Parliament Gherao'.