The row over the Maharashtra Congress’s social media remarks of ‘Goongi Gudiya' to deputy chief minister and NCP national president Sunetra Pawar over her inability to command her party and leaders, has not gone well with the NCP and its alliance partners, and attracted sharp criticism.
Maharashtra Congress posted a clip from DCM Sunetra Pawar’s press conference on X showing her party MLA Dhananjay Munde preventing her from taking questions from reporters about the law and order situation in Beed. The video also shows Sunetra Pawar wrapping up the presser soon after as Munde stops the reporters asking questions and telling them it can be discussed later. The caption on the video read: “How long will Sunetra Pawar remain Gungi Gudiya (silent doll)?”
Reacting to this remark, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis said; "...how low the Congress stoop for cheap publicity." He said that the Congress party is losing importance and traction; therefore, they are doing all cheap publicity stunts to attract media and public attention.
“The Congress will get a bad name for such remarks, but they are more concerned with publicity than the image of the party. This is not the Maharashtra culture to use such language and remarks against woman and any personality. But Congress has lost all moral and ethics by stooping this low,” CM Devendra Fadnavis said.
Former Maharashtra Congress chief minister Prithviraj Chavan took a different stand from his party, saying Maharashtra Congress should have avoided taking such a jibe at Sunetra Pawar out of respect for women. He said Sunetra Pawar is holding a constitutional position as DCM; therefore, they have to respect and encourage more and more women to come into politics.
Chavan said that the controversy arose over not speaking on the law and order issue of the Beed district by Sunetra Pawar; actually, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the Home Minister, is only responsible for the law and order situation.
Meanwhile, NCP workers, under the leadership of Suraj Chavan, barged into the Congress office, demanding an apology for calling Sunetra Pawar a ‘Goongi Gudiya’.
It was in 1966 that Ram Manohar Lohia first used the term ‘Goongi Gudiya’ to mock Indira Gandhi’s quiet personality. She eventually became the Prime Minister of India, with critics describing her as authoritarian and supporters hailing her as the most popular leader of her time.
