The Congress officially
issued a statement backing Robert Vadra, seeking to counter the BJP by saying
that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he was the chief minister of Gujarat,
had “removed the mike and walked out of a pre-fixed interview” with a leading
journalist when questioned about the Gujarat riots.
Expressing his disapproval
of Robert Vadra’s behaviour, Dikshit, a Congress spokesperson and former Lok
Sabha MP, said: “I haven’t seen it and I am not responding as a Congress
spokesperson because it is a matter between an individual and a cameraperson.
All I would say is, for any person, there is a public etiquette and decorum we
all maintain, and you can have overbearing media people at times, I can
appreciate that, but I think for anybody we must maintain basic civility… And I
think if we have some grouse we should just let it go, this kind of public
display is unfortunate. I don’t know what the circumstances were and I have not
seen the tape, but all of us, specially people who are known in public, must
maintain a level of decorum.”
Asked whether Robert Vadra should
apologise, Dikshit said it was for Robert Vadra to decide, but it was always
good to assuage if somebody’s feelings were hurt. “Who am I advise him? It is
up to an individual. I believe if any one of us crossed a particular decorum in
terms of public behaviour, it is always good to assuage if you hurt anybody’s
feelings,” he said.
Among those who backed Robert
Vadra was Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, who called the row a
“minor incident”.
“Why is media making such an
issue related to a small incident? I am told the agreement was (that) questions
will be asked only about the gym facilities in Ashoka (Hotel), and that’s it. I
do not understand the kind of media attention which Robert Vadra is getting on
a non-event. Are you all very short of news these days?” he said.
In the party’s official
statement, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “The Indian
Constitution and our established ethos guarantee right to privacy, personal
space and liberty to all individuals, more so when a person is neither in
public life nor holds any public office. Unpleasantness of repeatedly asking
questions at private functions, like what happened with Shri Robert Vadra
yesterday, must be avoided at all times.”
Surjewala added: “The
repetitive hounding of an individual on an issue that has been conclusively
rejected both by a constitutional body like the Election Commission of India as
also high courts and finally the Supreme Court of India is not appropriate.”
The Congress said it was
clear that “the episode is being propagated as a political agenda for obvious
reasons”. “I want to remind leaders of the BJP and friends of the media as to
how none less than the Prime Minister (then chief minister), Narendra Modi, had
removed the mike and walked out of a pre-fixed interview,” Surjewala said.
