Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra outrage over exclusion of women journalists from Taliban presser: Centre’s ‘no role to play’ clarification, the Vienna Convention, and Congress’s performative femin

Some controversies are accidents. Others are manufactured. And then there are some like the one over the recent Taliban presser in New Delhi that are pure theatre, scripted outrage by the usual suspects in Lutyens’ Delhi.

When Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi addressed a limited press gathering at the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi, several women journalists were denied entry. The reason was depressingly predictable; the decision was taken by Taliban officials accompanying Muttaqi.

Within hours, the Congress party’s outrage machinery kicked into gear. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi launched into a performative moral crusade against the Modi government, demanding accountability, invoking “Nari Shakti,” and accusing the PM of hypocrisy on women’s rights. And the overly