The controversy erupted after Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi was seen carrying a handbag showing the word 'Palestine' on it and the image was posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) by Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed on Monday (December 16). The BJP strongly reacted to the development and called it 'Muslim appeasement'.
One of the Internet users said Priyanka Gandhi shows her solidarity with Palestine by carrying a special bag symbolizing her support.
Another social media user said it was not in good taste to support an organisation like Hamas on 'Vijay Diwas', the day India under former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi defeated Pakistani forces in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Priyanka Gandhi is granddaughter of Indira Gandhi.
Other users said that it would have been appropriate if Priyanka Gandhi has chosen an object that signified India's triumph.
It should be noted that the Congress general secretary has been raising her voice against Israel's actions in Gaza and expressing solidarity with Palestinians. Her carrying the handbag emblazoned with the word "Palestine" and Palestinian emblems, including a watermelon -- is being seen as a symbol of Palestinian solidarity.
Abed Elrazeg Abu Jazer, Charge d'affaires of the Palestine Embassy in New Delhi, had last week called on Priyanka to congratulate the Congress leader on her recent election victory from Kerala's Wayanad.
In June, Priyanka slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what she had said were the Israel government's "genocidal actions" in Gaza, as she accused him and his government of "barbarism".
The Congress general secretary's remarks had come after Netanyahu defended Israel's ongoing war in Gaza in a speech to the US Congress.
Priyanka had said it was no longer enough to speak up for the civilians, mothers, fathers, doctors, nurses, aid workers, journalists, teachers, writers, poets, senior citizens and the thousands of innocent children who were being wiped out day after day by the "horrific genocide" taking place in Gaza.
"It is the moral responsibility of every right-thinking individual, including all those Israeli citizens who do not believe in hatred and violence, and every government in the world to condemn the Israeli government's genocidal actions and force them to stop," she had said in a post on X.
Their actions are unacceptable in a world that professes civility and morality, Gandhi had said.
