RAHUL GANDHI Embarrassed in Parliament Again July 17, 2017

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is often at the receiving end of social media trolls. And the monsoon session of Parliament did not begin at a sweet note for the Gandhi scion at least on social networks. A video of National Conference president and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah greeting everyone and ostensibly ignoring Rahul Gandhi is going viral on Youtube.

The video shows Abdullah first greeting senior Parliamentarians from ruling NDA including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then walking towards Opposition leaders. Rahul Gandhi rises from his seat to greet Farooq Abdullah with folded hands but the senior NC leader walks past him without noticing. He is however seen greeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi. A visibly embarrassed Rahul then sits back on his seat beside Jyotiraditya Scindia. 

The Monsoon session of the Parliament began on July 17, 2017.

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW

VIDEO: Difference between Rahul Gandhi and PM Narendra Modi

Watch Video that establishes the difference between Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Two incidents in Parliament - one during the speech of Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and another during the speech of Union minister and BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu - established why Narendra Modi is admired by countrymen.

Rahul Gandhi comes during the speech of Jyotiraditya Scindia in Lok Sabha and intermittently interrupts Scindia's speech to sit beside him. In fact, a Member of Parliament is seen rising to vacate place for Rahul Gandhi. The Gandhi scion then sits beside Jyotiraditya Scindia.

In a similar incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stands and patiently waits for his cabinet colleague Venkaiah Naidu to complete his speech. Narendra Modi even gestures to a fellow MP not to get up when he rises to vacate seat for the Prime Minister.

Why one must feel sorry for Kapil Sibal/Education system

One must feel sorry for Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal.

When Sibal became Union HRD minister, he brought a new thrust to the ministry at least on the outset. He talked of expanding the number of education-providers, improving the quality of education, giving autonomy to colleges/universities. But before he could bring in that much-needed change in the education scenario of the country, the party high command thought Sibal’s calculation skills could be better utilised to challenge (even if vaguely) the proficiency of the CAG in the infamous 2G spectrum scam. So, he was given additional charge of Telecom Ministry by Prime Minister manmohan singh (read SONIA GANDHI).

The next we heard from Sibal was not on the issue of providing interest subsidy on educational loans or abolition of Class X board exams. But on how the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) had been ‘utterly erroneous’ in his estimation of a loss of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore in the 2G spectrum allocation.

However, by this time the 2G scam was being investigated by CBI under the supervision of the apex court and A Raja’s involvement in the lapses was almost certain.

Reacting to Sibal’s comment, Supreme Court reprimanded him and asked the Minister to behave with ‘some sense of responsibility’. Sibal’s reply could well have been: I am behaving responsibly. After all, this is the responsibility that I have been assigned – to save Congress’ face in the 2G spectrum scam.

But, Sibal cannot not even do that. That is why we should feel sorry for him.

When CBI arrested A Raja and Kapil Sibal was reminded of his comment that ‘2G allocation had not caused any loss to the country’, the Telecom Minister had nothing to say. He told media persons to ‘go and ask CBI’.

Now when he is asked if he is a reluctant telecom minister, Sibal replies – If the prime minister (read SONIA GANDHI) wants me to do a job, I do it.

Meanwhile, public education system continues to languish. Statistics, that only half the children of Class V can read Class II textbooks, is a shame for any government. We cannot but feel sorry for the public education system.

REMINISCENT NOTE:  Excerpts from Rahul Gandhi’s maiden speech in Parliament in 2006 that spun higher education dreams: “I walked to the children in village schools "Beta bade hokar kya bano ge?"  The silent stare I got in reply disturbed me. In school after school, I have asked this question and got no answer.

Well.. Mr Rahul Gandhi will go to villages and find out about the rotten education system, only to use the anecdotes to pepper his speech in the Parliament.  

Mr Gandhi, may we tell you – your silence is more disturbing than the child who could not answer: Beta bada hokar kya banoge?

conciousdipu@gmail.com

Time to revolutionise the Indian education system

Dear Rahulji,

The state of India’s higher education is desperate and deplorable. Look beyond the IITs and IIMS, which off course caters to only a handful of our young pupils, and the dearth of quality education will be self evident.

The United States and the United Kingdom together earn over Rs. 50,000 crores from Asian students studying there. This is more than twice our entire educational budget per year. You must already be aware of this.

You have shown that you feel strongly about this. During your journey to the village schools you had asked the young students “Bete bade hokar kya banoge?” (What do you want to become when you grow up). The blank stares had disturbed you. And you had recounted it in your maiden Budget speech in the Lok Sabha.

Rahulji, you had also talked of higher education and of the need to develop India as ‘‘a global education hub’’. With a better mandate and more power in hand, can we expect that you and the UPA will do something to ensure that every child is able to answer the question ‘‘Bade hokar kya banoge?”

My best wishes,

Dipu Shaw

The three political stalwarts of 2009

Until recently, he was busy discovering India. Now, India has discovered Rahul Gandhi: says the lead of an article in a leading Indian magazine. No need to mention that this is about the Congress’s emphatic victory in the 15^th Lok Sabha elections.

One cannot dispute the fact that the 2009 elections in the world’s largest democracy saw three straight winners: the young and dynamic Rahul Gandhi, son and grandson of former prime ministers Rajiv and Indira. Considered by many to be a prime minister in waiting, Rahul was marketed by Congress to appeal to India’s 43 million first time voters.

The engineer-turned-politician Nitish Kumar, seen by many as the first leader to have transcended all complications in Bihar. After all Bihar is known for its fragile and competitive caste calculus. This makes the 2009 mandate stand out as the first post-caste election in the state.

The man with a clean and simple image: Navin Patnaik. With his decisive victory in Orissa, he became the first leader to become chief minister for the third consecutive term. His party Biju Janata Dal became the first regional party to come to power on its own in Orissa. Just before the elections, he snapped his electoral alliance with the BJP. It was a calculated risk to go it alone and the gamble paid off in spades.