oppn parties Rahul Gandhi: Bumbling Along

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
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  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Tragedy in Kolkata: Stampede at the Chor Bagan Pujo results in 18 people losing their lives and scores injured /////// The stampede was caused by a sudden downpour which made people in the heavy crowd run for cover
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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. 

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