Monday, 30 September 2024
Monday, 30 September 2024
Rahul Gandhi, who once said “poverty is a state of mind”, that the “poor need the escape velocity of Jupiter”, and who was tagged “Pappu” by the pro-government ecosystem, has emerged as a transformed leader since the Lok Sabha election results were declared. He has thrown sharp jabs at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third government, forcing the BJP to respond to each of his allegations with the full might of the ruling party.
Here’s a quick look at some of the issues the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha has raised in just about a month.
Who is a Hindu? Rahul Gandhi takes battle to Parivar
It began with that powerful speech in Parliament during the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address. “Nahi, nahi, nahi… Narendra Modi ji poora Hindu samaj nahi hai, BJP poora Hindu samaj nahi hai, RSS poora Hindu samaj nahi hai,” Rahul said.
As R. Rajagopal of The Telegraph wrote, “This is a message that the Congress should have hammered home long ago. But the timidity that marked the Congress’s response for years had allowed the BJP to style itself as the saviour of Hindus. By telling it as it is to Modi’s face, Rahul has now crystallised a robust course correction.”
Agniveer: Can there be two kinds of soldiers?
Rahul Gandhi has targeted the government sharply over the scheme of temporary recruitments to the armed forces, highlighting suicides of Agniveers and alleging lack of adequate compensation for those Agniveers that have died in the line of duty. From the defence minister to the army’s PR division, everyone has responded to Rahul’s accusations but he has stood fast, pointing out things like “insurance is not compensation”. His call has resonated, with even key NDA allies such as Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JDU saying the scheme needs tweaks. This week, the mother of a soldier who died in Siachen issued an appeal, saying that there cannot be two kinds of soldiers and requesting “with folded hands” that the Agnipath scheme be scrapped.
Education mess: Demographic dividend or ticking time bomb?
The Congress led by Rahul has taken on the government over the exams mess – in the NEET tests for medical courses, the cancelled UGC-NET, the leaked UP police constable recruitment examination, the postponed joint CSIR-UGC-NET to determine eligibility for junior research fellowship and assistant professor and admission to PhD in science courses, the CUET-UG delay and the cancelled NCET for admission to the four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP). And on Wednesday, Rahul picked up a newspaper report that the salaries IIT graduates have experienced a decline due to the slowdown in hiring. The Congress leader claimed that 19 per cent of the students could not get campus placement in 2022 and the same rate doubled to 38 per cent this year. Rahul’s salvo came days after the Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen said in Bolpur: “...The main reason behind India’s unemployment is the neglect in education and healthcare.”
Loco pilots’ working conditions. How Bharat travels
The working conditions of India’s train drivers became national headlines after Rahul Gandhi on Friday visited the loco pilots' crew lobby at the New Delhi station and spoke to them about their problems and challenges. It resulted in a flurry of official responses and counterclaims. Kamlesh Singh, central treasurer of the Indian Railway Loco Runningmen Organisation, told PTI: "After Mr Gandhi left, officials of the Railway ministry visited us at the New Delhi Railway Station to attend to our grievances." He added that it was the first time that any official from the Railway Board had showed such a prompt response to their problems. Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also spoke out, alleging the Opposition was doing drama and spreading falsehoods.
And what about the forgotten state of Manipur?
The timing of Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the strife-torn northeast state bordering Myanmar was surely strategic. He visited the state and spoke to the displaced people at relief camps as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visuals from Putin’s Russia were being beamed on TV channels. It prompted some sharp satire on social media, but underscored an important point. That the Union of India cannot afford to ignore ethnic violence in a state that has killed hundreds and displaced thousands. A violence that continues to simmer.
