Charity begins at home: Jaitley on Priyanka remarks

BJP leader Arun Jaitley Wednesday said he agreed with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra that personal attacks cause pain to people and should be avoided, but noted that "charity begins at home" and the Congress should not have made similar attacks on BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Referring to Priyanka's remarks at a rally in Rae Bareli Tuesday, Jaitley in an article on the Bharatiya Janata Party website said she was right that personal attacks should be avoided.

Priyanka, daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Tuesday said the allegations about her husband Robert Vadra were part of a concerted political attack on her family.

She also said she was hurt by such allegations and "feel strongly against such vicious attack".

Jaitley said Robert Vadra was in a controversy over the nature of his investments and, prima facie, it was a case of "investments without original capital and an unprecedented return".

"Priyanka Vadra claims not to be in politics. She helps her mother and brother in their constituencies which she is entitled to. Yesterday, she commented that she was pained at the personal attacks on her husband Robert Vadra who has been in controversy over the nature of his investments. There is obviously something much more than meets the eye," Jaitley said.

He said "Mrs. Vadra is right" that personal attacks pain people and should be avoided.

"I wish her political friends should also realise this. If they had realised it, her brother would not have made Narendra Modi's so-called child marriage into a public issue," Jaitley said.

Priyanka's brother and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had accused Modi of hiding his marital status after he named his wife in his nomination papers filed in Vadodara.

The Congress has also moved the Election Commission against Modi on the issue.

Jaitley said the Congress should also not have attacked Modi on the alleged snooping of a young woman in Gujarat and over the 2002 riots.

"The Congress would not have made security to a lady in Ahmedabad into a 'snoopgate' issue. In a case where courts have found that there is not even enough case to register an FIR against Modi, the Congress should not have carried on campaign for 12 long years based on falsehood and fabrications."

"Certainly, if the mother (Sonia Gandhi) had listened to her daughter, she would not have called Modi 'maut ka saudagar' (merchant of death)", Jaitley said.

"I completely agree with Mrs. Vadra that personal attacks pain people and should be avoided. But good advice, like charity, always begins at home," Jaitley added.