oppn parties Rahul Gandhi, Stop Being a Child

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Rahul Gandhi, Stop Being a Child

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2016-12-21 22:56:33

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
What was billed as an “earthquake” turned out to be not even a whimper. The allegations Rahul Gandhi has chosen to throw at Narendra Modi were dismissed by the Supreme Court as “hawala papers” with “zero material” that only leveled “insinuations.” The gist of Rahul’s charge is that as Gujarat chief minister, Modi had received kickbacks from the Sahara group. The material he claims as proof is a cache of papers that the I-T department found when it raided the group. These papers are in public domain for two and half years and have been the subject of a failed PIL in the apex court that sought to have them investigated by a SIT. Why rake up these charges now? Really, Rahul Gandhi should grow up and change his advisors.

The Congress had drummed up a lot of drama over demonetization. It has used its all India infrastructure and has yet failed to instigate the people to revolt. Every day, Rahul Gandhi has been making childish and mischievous allegations, calling the noteban a huge scam one day and alleging that Modi informed his rich friends beforehand on another day. He led the opposition to waste an entire session of parliament and yet did not allow a debate on the subject by rallying most parties to reject all specifics on the shape the debate would take. Yet, he tried to hog the limelight by acting as the savior of the farmers in UP by meeting PM Modi only with his own party leaders. By ditching the opposition, he poked a pin in the opposition unity balloon. The Congress and Rahul himself are becoming the laughing stock of the nation.

The single point agenda that Rahul has is to take on Modi at everything the PM does. This has made him lose focus on rebuilding a party devastated by a shattering defeat. If Rahul thinks that he can turn the people against Modi by his antics, he is sadly mistaken. His image of a reluctant politician has not been reversed, even after the long sabbatical in Bangkok. Rahul version 2.0 is still viewed with suspicion. Apart from his zero knowledge on governance and administration, people are scared that he belongs to the same “suit-boot” set that he accuses PM Modi of hobnobbing with. They think that despite his periodic forays into the homes of the poor and the token lunch with them, he is not at all aware of their problems and is unsuited to address them. In short, people are afraid of the fate that will befall the country if he becomes PM. Rahul had once advised PM Modi to take lessons on the economy from Manmohan Singh. The Congress scion himself has to take a whole lot of lessons on everything from the economy to internal security and foreign relations to defence matters. Sadly, there are none in his party willing or courageous enough to update him.