Khushbu Sundar's Twitter Timeline: The Burden Of Jumping Ship

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ensured a baptism by fire for its new entrant Khushbu Sundar, who till very recently, as a spokesperson for the Congress, was quite critical of the saffron party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media.

Ever since she joined the BJP at the its national headquarters on Monday, October 12, the party has made sure that she eats her words and publicly display her loyalty to the new party and its policies. She has been on several TV channels, defending her political move and praising the PM, saying “ if 128 crore people believe in one man and that’s our Prime Minister, I think they are doing something absolutely right.”

Incidentally, she has not tweeted about the change and her last tweet on October 11 is to wish Amitabh Bachchan on his birthday. Her twitter handle does not mention any political affiliation and only says, “A woman of today raising voice for a better tomorrow..” her social media team seems to have sanitized her twitter timeline, in keeping with her new loyalties. Some of her tweets like – “A Prime Minister who can feed peacocks cannot feed the poor in this country” – have been deleted.

However, some of the tweets which were not personally critical of the PM, are still there.
On October 8, Khushbu questioned the BJP-JDU about giving a ticket for Bihar assembly elections to Muzzafarpur shelter home rape accused Manju Verma. “Now this is the limit. She is out on bail and still an accused.” She hashtagged the BJP-JDU alliance as #sexghotalagathbandhan.

She has also retained some of the tweets, critical of the BJP, that she retweeted. Khushbu retweeted tweets, including one by historian Ramchandra Guha, that highlighted Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz’s criticism of PM Modi’s brand of politics as divisive.

On October 6, she called out the BJP for questioning Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for using a cushion on a tractor as he went to protest the farmers’ bills. “Bcoz nobody has given them a lesson on coccyx bone injury. Ahh! How will @BJP4India know that? It happens when you go road by road, travel like a commoner, walk with the poor, are scuffled n pushed by puppets, sit for long hours dharna fighting for the country n it’s democracy,” she tweeted.

The same day, she also retweeted Dinesh Gundu Rao, a Congress MLA from Karnataka -- Central Agencies like IT/ED/CBI are no more the watch dogs of our constitutional democracy. Instead they are the door keeper dogs of @BJP4India. They are now trained to attack & assault any political opponent inconvenient to the BJP. I must admit they’ve become highly obedient.”

Again, on October 6, in a tweet , which was deleted later related to Hathras case where a BJP MP Rajveer Singh Daler allegedly went to meet he accused in jail but said he had only gone there to have tea, Khushbu was scathing – “Bhaiyya chai peene 7, Race course hi chale jaate .. usse achchi chai aapko aur kahan milegi. Do these people really think everyone is an idiot just as they are?? What a bunch of jokers are in power!!”

She has been critical of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s handling of the Hathras case. Tweeting the video of RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary being lathi-charged by the UP police, she tweeted on October 4 – “What a barbaric act by @Uppolice. Do you see what happening in your state @myogiadityanath or you like to pretend to be blind too, apart from being dumb n deaf??”

The same day, she took a dig at BJP trolls. “I know @BJP4India has left the country's unemployment at its worst,but i am glad some of those desperate souls are employed by them to troll for Rs 2/- per abuse. But you know your auqat is sirf 2 rupaiyya na? I am happy i contribute atleast those 2 rupaiyya to your paapi pet,” she tweeted.
She also retweeted a tweet, the same day, that called out BJP’s media cell chief Amit Malviya as a “fake news peddler.”

And then in an angry tweet on October 4 itself, she wondered why the women leaders of BJP were silent on the Hathras case -- “Where the hell are the women of @BJP4India who keep screaming at a drop of a hat? Why haven't they spoken on #HathrasHorror? And all those who say rape didnt happened, pls read what the dying girl had to say. All seem to have buried humanity for the sake of power n position.”

These are only some of the tweets for this month. Khushbu can’t erase her entire timeline to prove her change of heart and politics but Congress leaders wonder if she can put her money where her mouth is and whether BJP will allow her the freedom to do the things she earlier proclaimed.