Facing accusations from his party AAP of exercising his own “soft PR” – public relations or propaganda – by “raising issues like samosa prices instead of serious matters of democracy”, Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha on Friday released a new video compilation of his interventions in Parliament.
This sparked intense meme activity in responses to X, divided between those who made jokes about raising allegedly trivial issues, and those who praised him as a champion of the middle class.
In the video posted just after 5pm on Friday, April 3, this was Chadha’s third reaction to her removal as RJD’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha.
The video, which is 2 minutes and 40 seconds long, was titled “My Two Minutes” but there was no accompanying text in X’s post; Just an emoji of the Indian national flag.
The photo showed Chadha walking in slow motion inside Parliament, then interrupted him talking about a range of issues.
What’s in Raghav Chadha’s latest video?
“I am not at all ashamed to say that in India today we pay taxes like England for services like Somalia,” he said in the first part of footage of the Rajya Sabha proceedings.
Another thing was when he called for the right of subpoena. Parts of his speeches to the group addressed the issue of “income not increasing at the level at which inflation is rising in India”, his emphasis on “duopoly” in India’s aviation sector, and the need to reconsider tax systems.
Significantly, the clip contained him raising issues related to Punjab, the AAP-ruled state where he is a Member of Parliament and for which Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had harshly criticized him earlier in the day for not raising related issues.
Hence, Chadha’s latest video collection included his interventions on the ‘Cancer Train’ that runs from Bathinda in Punjab to Bikaner in Rajasthan, and water related issues in Punjab in terms of ‘quality and quantity’.
Moreover, he also added an excerpt of his speech demanding Bharat Ratna by freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.
In the previous video, among a host of issues addressed, there was also a reference to blaming farmers for pollution.
Severe reactions
His latest video garnered sharp reactions on
“You were supposed to be the voice of the Aa Aadmi (common person), but you were missing key issues, instead talking about samosas, cryptocurrencies and recharges. If you had such fear, why did you take the Rajya Sabha seat?” wrote Amanpreet Singh Uppal, who identified himself as AAP’s Social Media Desk Officer.
However, another user expressed sadness that Raghav Chadha may not be speaking anymore as AAP has asked the Revolutionary Socialists Secretariat not to give him time from the party quota.
“Now no one will raise issues about: telecom plundering; high crypto taxes; private school readmission scams; toll plundering; airport fare plundering; food adulteration; activist content suppression; and no compensation for airline delays!!” The user posted a response to Chadha’s post.
Chadha noticed the memes and sharp reactions to his speeches earlier.
Just last week, he sportingly welcomed more such memes, even posting his own story about them, in which he appeared to tell the head of the Social Revolutionaries that “the memes must not stop, sir.”
A week later, the Justice and Development Party moved against him on Thursday, even though the issue of his departure from the party had been simmering for more than two years.
On Friday, AAP’s Delhi unit president Saurabh Bhardwaj asserted that Chadha “continually backs down” whenever the party wants to raise issues against the central government in Parliament.
“The Election Commission seems to be working completely in tandem with the central government. It is his duty to raise voice against this? Raghav Chadha doesn’t even want to mention the central government… BJP is actively promoting Raghav Chadha. His supporters are amplifying his posts on social media. Why are they doing this? Parliament should be a forum to discuss serious issues and find solutions for them… If you give in to fear, your political career is effectively over,” he said.
He also questioned Delhi Leader of Opposition (LoP) and former Prime Minister Atishi Chadha.
“The LPG crisis is affecting the lives of every common man. When the party asks Raghav Chadha to address it, he refuses to speak. He is afraid to speak against the BJP and Prime Minister Modi… Many opposition leaders got scared and joined the BJP. Raghav Chadha might be next,” she said.
But after his dismissal as deputy leader of the SP, Chadha said his “silence” should not be “mistaken as a defeat”.
“I may raise issues that are not normally raised in Parliament. But is raising public issues a crime? Have I committed a crime? Have I made a mistake? Have I done something wrong?” He said.
Raghav Chadha has been a Member of Parliament since April 2022, with two years left in his term.
