‘Flying kiss, hug, wink’: Rahul Gandhi and his many Parliament controversies

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who gave his maiden speech in Parliament today (9 August) after being reinstated as an MP, has landed in a controversy. After the infamous hug and wink, it is now Gandhi’s alleged “flying kiss” that has the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) up in arms. According to the news agency ANI, NDA women MPs have written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to take strict action against Gandhi, accusing him of making an “inappropriate gesture” towards Union minister Smriti Irani and insulting women lawmakers in Lok Sabha.

NDA women MPs write to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding strict action against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi alleging him of making inappropriate gesture towards BJP MP Smriti Irani and displaying indecent behaviour in the House. pic.twitter.com/E1FD3X2hZC

— ANI (@ANI) August 9, 2023

What’s the ‘flying kiss’ row? How has Rahul Gandhi stirred controversies in Parliament previously? Let’s take a closer look. ‘Flying kiss’ in Parliament Gandhi allegedly blew a flying kiss while exiting Lok Sabha premises after his speech and as Irani’s speech was underway during the second day of the debate on the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against the Central government. According to India Today, as the Congress MP was leaving the House, he dropped a few files and bent over to pick them up. This sparked laughter among some BJP MPs. People who witnessed the moment told the news channel that Gandhi then blew a kiss at the BJP legislators and left. Taking objection to his alleged gesture, BJP MP Irani slammed Gandhi , without taking his name, and said that his action “lacked dignity”. “The person who spoke before me misbehaved. Only a misogynistic man can gesture a flying kiss to female parliamentarians. It shows the khandhan he comes from, and what his family and party feel about women,” Irani said, as per Hindustan Times (HT).

#WATCH | Union Minister and BJP MP Smriti Irani says, "I object to something. The one who was given the chance to speak before me displayed indecency before leaving. It is only a misogynistic man who can give a flying kiss to a Parliament which seats female members of Parliament.… pic.twitter.com/xjEePHKPKN

— ANI (@ANI) August 9, 2023

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Union minister of state for agriculture & farmers’ welfare Shobha Karandlaje told PTI: “As soon as Smriti Irani started to speak, he (Rahul Gandhi) disrespected women through the gesture of a flying kiss. This is for the first time that a Member of Parliament has shown such behaviour. We have filed a complaint with the Speaker and requested stringent action”. As the BJP is trying to corner the Wayanad MP over the gesture, a Congress leader told NDTV, “Rahul Gandhi gestured towards the treasury benches as he was leaving with a flying kiss as he had called them brothers and sisters. He did not direct it towards any particular minister or MP, and not at all towards Union minister Smriti Irani”. Hug and wink In July 2018, when a debate on the no-trust motion against the Centre was going on, Rahul Gandhi got up from his seat, walked towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi and embraced him, which left the BJP leader visibly startled. As he returned to his seat, Gandhi was then captured on camera winking at his fellow Congress MPs, as per NDTV.

Next year in February, in his last address to Parliament ahead of the 2019 general elections, Modi recalled the incident, mocking Gandhi. “I came here for the first time and learnt many things. For the first time, I realised the difference between gale lagna and gale padna (an embrace and someone throwing themselves at you),” the prime minister said. “I saw for the first time that there are aankhon ki gustakhiyan (mischief of the eyes) in the House,” Modi said, evoking laughter among BJP members, reported NDTV.  Remembering the hug, Gandhi told students in Chennai in March 2019 that prime minister Modi was “very angry” and was speaking against him, the Congress party and his family. “Inside me, I was feeling affection for him. I was feeling affectionate that this man is not able to see the beauty of the world. That he is so angry, he is not able to see the beauty of the world. So, I thought at least (from) my side I should show him affection,” the Congress leader said, as per NDTV. ALSO READ: Rahul Gandhi gets reprieve in one ‘Modi surname’ case. But there are more pending Poster of PM with Adani In February, Rahul Gandhi claimed close ties between Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani and showed a photograph of the two together to back his point, prompting a reaction from Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. “No posters please, if you will show posters then this side (BJP) will show posters of Rajasthan’s CM (Ashok Gehlot… with Gautam Adani). This is not appropriate,” Birla said, as per news agency ANI.

#WATCH | No posters please, if you will show posters then this side (BJP) will show poster of Rajasthan’s CM (with Gautam Adani). Showing posters isn't appropriate: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi pic.twitter.com/HHZIlymApr

— ANI (@ANI) February 7, 2023

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The incident occurred as Gandhi was questioning the government over the Adani-Hindenburg row while addressing Lok Sabha. He said that during his then recently concluded Bharat Jodo Yatra, he “heard only one businessman’s name… from Kanniyakumari (in Tamil Nadu, where the march began) to Kashmir…”. “From Tamil Nadu (to) Kerala to Himachal Pradesh… we have been listening (to) one name everywhere - ‘Adani’. Across the entire country, it’s just ‘Adani, Adani, Adani…’”, the Congress MP was quoted as saying by HT. Earlier in January this year, short seller and research agency Hindenburg Research in its report accused the Adani Group of manipulating its stock prices. Adani had dismissed the allegations and threatened legal action against Hindenburg. ‘Dis’Qualified MP’ Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a member of Parliament in March after a court in Gujarat’s Surat convicted him in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his alleged remarks on the “Modi surname”. The Lok Sabha Secretariat had also declared his Wayanad constituency vacant. Gandhi was found guilty of defamation and sentenced to two years in prison over his alleged “why do all thieves have the name Modi” remark by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Following the conviction, Gandhi had changed his Twitter, now X, bio to ‘Dis’Qualified MP’. Last week, the Supreme Court stayed the conviction, paving the Congress leader’s return as an MP. On Monday (7 August), Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a notification restoring Gandhi’s membership. Unique protests In August 2021, the former Congress president, along with his party colleagues and Opposition leaders, rode a bicycle to Parliament during the Monsoon Session to protest against a hike in fuel and cooking gas prices. He also called on the Opposition to “unite the majority voice of the people of India”. “We [the Opposition parties] represent 60 per cent of the people, the majority of the people. When the government shuts us up, they are not humiliating us as members of Parliament but the majority voice of the people of India. The single most important thing in my view is: let’s unite this voice,” he told the Opposition MPs of 15 parties ahead of the cycle protest, reported The Hindu. In July of that year, Gandhi drove a tractor to Parliament to support the then-protesting farmers who were demanding the repeal of the Centre’s three farm laws. Accompanied by Punjab and Haryana MPs, Gandhi carried a banner and raised slogans. “We have brought the message of farmers to Parliament. A discussion is not allowed inside the House and the farmers are being suppressed. That’s why we are here and they [the Centre] will have to take back these black laws,” he said at the time, as per The Hindu report. However, the police seized the tractor as the area was under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). With inputs from agencies