New Delhi: No member of the Gandhi family attending the recent high-profile marriage in the Ambani family had sent a deep political and moral message and conveyed their commitment to probity in public life, senior Congress leaders said on Sunday.
The marriage of Anant Ambani, son of top industrialist Mukesh Ambani, with Radhika Merchant on July 12, was a high-profile event attended by the who’s who of the country’s political, corporate and Bollywood circles. Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top BJP leaders, several Congress allies, including NCP’s Sharad Pawar, RJD’s Lalu Prasad and SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, attended the marriage that took place in Mumbai.
A few days ago, Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest person visited former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence in New Delhi and personally invited the Gandhis to his son’s marriage, but no member of the family attended the event. Instead, a written message congratulating the newly-wed couple was sent from Sonia Gandhi, said party insiders.
“At a time when the entire political class in the country is feeling grateful for attending the marriage in the Ambani family, no member of the Gandhi family attending the event is giving a deep political and moral message. The people are appreciating their stand. The Nehru-Gandhi family has been committed to probity in public life and the welfare of the people since the days of Motilal Nehru, father of Jawaharlal Nehru. Not being afraid of anyone and not bowing before any kind of allurement has been a tradition in the family. If the Nehru-Gandhi family chose politics as their vocation, they always made difficult choices to maintain high moral standards,” AICC secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh Chandan Yadav told ETV Bharat.
In the past, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, now the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had been targeting PM Modi for favouring the two top industrialists in the country, a reference to the Ambani and the Adani Groups, as he flagged the grand old party’s pro-poor stance.
Yadav referred to a recent speech of senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi made during the Lok Sabha polls campaign where she mentioned that Ambani and Adani may have ‘bought’ other politicians and media houses, but they would never be able to ‘buy’ her brother Rahul, to point out that “the Gandhi family never comes under any influence.”
The AICC functionary noted that different leaders had different priorities and said, “While Rahul Gandhi was spending time with the victims of various tragedies in Hathras, Ahmedabad, Assam and Manipur, PM Modi attended the marriage in the Ambani family, but has not visited strife-torn Manipur over the past year.”
AICC secretary in-charge of Gujarat BM Sandeep Kumar told ETV Bharat, “The decision not to go to the Ambani marriage was that of the Gandhi family and it is not proper for me to comment on that. But, I can say that they have always practised what they preach and have always kept the interest of the common people above all.”
“In the past, Sonia Gandhi did not attend the marriage of the sons of well-known industrialist Subrata Roy Sahara when most top politicians had attended the event,” he said.
Party insiders said the Gandhi family does not believe in showing off and usually keeps its marriages a simple and private affair be it the wedding of Jawaharlal Nehru with Kamala Nehru, Indira Gandhi with Feroze Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi with Rajiv Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi with Robert Vadra.
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