Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Smriti Irani spar over viral video showing kids abusing Modi in front of former

Union Minister Smriti Irani hit out at Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and said that people from cultured families should keep their children away from the latter. Irani was reacting to news of a video where a group of children were raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Priyanka’s presence. While the authenticity of the video hasn’t been verified, Irani said, “She makes children abuse. She asked children to abuse the Prime Minister. You cannot use children for political campaigns. What will children learn out of this? I will ask all cultured families to keep their children away from Priyanka Gandhi. I am happy that the family which claims to be cultured stands unmasked.”

On this Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “I had stopped the kids from using objectional language against Prime Minister."   

Different versions of an incident where a group of children used abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in front of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are being shared widely on social media.

A group of kids were raising slogans against Modi in front of Gandhi. The kids can be seen screaming “Chor hai” multiple times, completing the slogan ‘Chowkidaar chor hai”, initiated by someone who cannot be seen in the video. “Chowkidaar chor hai”, the Hindi slogan used by the Congress to accuse PM Modi of corruption, translates to “The watchman is a thief".

While a clipped version of the video shows Priyanka Gandhi Vadra encouraging the abusive chants, the original video depicts her chiding the children as soon as they used the abusive word and asking them to not continue. 

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the national body in charge of child protection issues in the country, has written to the Election Commission against the video, news agency ANI reported.