Pranab’s daughter writes open letter to Rahul on trolls

Sharmistha Mukherjee, the daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday wrote an open letter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleging the “vicious trolling” by party leaders and supporters against herself and the senior politician in recent days.

“Since the publication of my book ‘Pranab My Father: A Daughter Remembers’ a month back, I and my father have been subjected to vicious and continuous trolling by your supporters on social media,” Sharmistha wrote in the letter shared on her X handle.

“The book contains some observations about you made in my father’s diaries which are not very complimentary. However, as you seem to be a torchbearer of Freedom of Expression, you should know that FoE Involves not just praising someone, but also the ability to tolerate criticism gracefully,” she added.

Sharmistha pointed out how Rahul Gandhi “failed miserably” to convince even his followers as they “unleash all their ‘nafrat (hatred)’ on anyone daring to criticize him”.

“Your favourite slogan of ‘Nafrat ke Bazaar me Mohabbat ki Dukan’ also seems to fall on deaf ears of your own followers as they unleash all their ‘Nafrat’ on anyone daring to criticize you,” Sharmistha said.

The author of ”Pranab My Father: A Daughter Remembers’ narrated an incident that took place a few days ago at the Jaipur Literature Festival. Sharmistha noted she had expressed doubts regarding Rahul Gandhi’s ability to lead Congress while speaking in an interview a few days ago on the sidelines of Jaipur Lit Fest and became a target of “vicious trolling” at the behest of party ‘supporters’.

“Since then, all hell has broken loose because, in your followers’ minds, you and your family are synonymous with Congress without realising that Congress was and is far greater than any individual or a family. I and my father Shri Pranab Mukherjee, who, if you remember, was a senior leader of your party before becoming the President of India, have been subjected to vicious trolling by the Congress ‘supporters’, sometimes using the nastiest language,” she said.

Sharmistha further said,” Every limit was crossed yesterday when one of your alleged supporters called Naveen Shahi having X handle of @Naveen_Kr_Shahi who is followed by several senior Congress leaders like Pawan Khera, Ajay Maken, Srinivas BV and many other verified handles from INC Social Media dept abused my father Shri Pranab Mukherjee and me in such a vile language that I feel nausea even to repeat it.”

She also attached screenshots of tweets made by the handle saying she brought it to the notice of Jairam Ramesh, Supriya Srinate and even Rahul Gandhi but “neither got any reaction nor any action seems to have been taken against the person”.

Sharmistha demanded a police complaint to be registered against the person and concluded her letter saying “show that your promise of Nyay is not just an empty election slogan.”