oppn parties Rahul Gandhi: Bumbling Along

Story Of The Day

A 2,458-Point Rally Is Not Yet A Recovery

November 07, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About Junk Food Near Schools

News Snippets

  • 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
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
Rahul Gandhi: Bumbling Along

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-09-05 21:21:11

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

As usual, Rahul Gandhi has jumped the gun without understanding the circular of the Department of Expenditure (DOE) under the Ministry of Finance. Taking the ban on the creation of new posts in any ministry or department to mean a ban on recruitment, Gandhi went on the offensive, as is his wont, and attacked the government is his now-famous taunting manner.

Rahul tweeted in Hindi to say that the Modi government is using minimum government, maximum privatization and the excuse of Covid to remove staff from government offices, steal the future of India's youth and propel his own friends forward.

A reading of the circular will tell most intelligent people that it does not ban recruitment. What it does is it disallows the creation of new posts in any ministry or department without the approval of the DOE. Is there anything wrong with that?

The circular states at the outset that there is a need to curtail non-development expenditure in order to ensure adequate resources for critical priority schemes. Everyone knows that most departments are now functioning with 50 or 75 percent staff. It is very difficult to judge if new posts are needed when the working is not at full strength. Is it wrong, then, to ban the creation of new posts and recruiting for the same?

Rahul Gandhi has been wrongly advised that his daily salvos at the Modi government and personal attacks on Modi will get him any dividends. If he were to conduct a survey, he will find that people are put off by his comments.

It needs to be remembered that Gandhi had narrowly escaped being hauled up for contempt of court when he had misread a Supreme Court judgment to say that the apex court had held that the chowkidaar was chor during the campaign for the general elections in 2019. Granted that this is the digital age and the first comments on any issue grab more eyeballs, but for a person who wishes to be the Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi needs to be more measured in his criticism. He must first understand things properly and then open his mouth or hits the keyboard, if he does it personally.

Rahul and Priyanka accuse party leaders of having stepped aside while they are leading the charge against the NDA and Modi. If this the way they are going to go about it, it is better they stop and have a committee to whet all public announcements. In fact, a committee was formed some time ago with Manmohan Singh as chairman to guide the party on how to respond against the NDA government's policies. Nothing much was heard about it thereafter. In any case, Rahul Gandhi likes to be a lone ranger, a bad one at that. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

 Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

In Depth

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Editor's Pick

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.