Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra defended her mother Sonia Gandhi's newly released memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, during a media interaction in her Wayanad constituency on Thursday.
She accused the BJP and RSS of fabricating stories and spreading "lies" about Sonia Gandhi for years while the former Congress president remained silent, asserting that she now has every right to tell her own story.
Her comments came in response to BJP criticism dismissing the book as an attempt to "whitewash" controversial Congress chapters, including the 1975 Emergency and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday claimed that the BJP and RSS had spread falsehoods about her mother, former AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, for most of her life in the country and were now calling her statements made in a book false when she was speaking the truth.
She was referring to Gandhi's memoir released recently.
"For most of my mother's adult life in India, the BJP, RSS, and many others have said whatever they wanted to say about her. They have told lies, they have fabricated stories, they have completely invented things and she has been quiet. Now she is telling her story. She has a right to tell her story," the Wayanad MP asserted.
Priyanka was replying to reporters' queries regarding the BJP's reaction to her mother's book.
"For so long they have been telling lies about my mother. Now she is telling the truth. So obviously they are going to say that (it is false). What else can they say. Anyways, I am very happy they are reading her book," she added.
The BJP on Tuesday accused Congress leader Sonia Gandhi of trying to "justify" the imposition of Emergency in 1975 and giving a "clean chit" to her late husband Rajiv Gandhi over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in her memoir, and said her book "Belonging" should instead have been named "whitewashing".
Sonia Gandhi's memoir -- 'Belonging: A Journey of Love' -- was released on Tuesday, inviting both positive and negative feedback regarding its content.
The ruling party had also alleged that Gandhi's memoir exposed her real face that "her tears flow for Muslim votes only" but they dry up when Pakistani terrorists kill Indians and Naxalites carry out "massacre of Sanatanis".
Vadra said that whatever her mother wanted to explain or whatever was her point of view, she has put in her book.
"Everyone has their own personal point of view. Everyone has their own story, right," she added.
