Rahul Gandhi's advisors must surely be hoping they could turn back time. He launched his UP campaign on the birthday of his grandfather. However as has been highlighted by the media, two things have occurred which the Congress could have done without.
One was the kicking of the opposition workers who broke through Rahul's security cordon. Granted, he is under SPG protection and is a high profile target. However the intruders could have simply been pinned down and taken into custody. But we saw political leaders queuing up to kick the SP workers. Apparently an FIR has also been filed against these leaders.
The other was Rahul Gandhi's use of the term begging. Bihar and UP contribute a lot to the migrant labour force in the country. This is still no reason to call the people of UP beggars. There is such a thing called dignity of labour. The Congress might say the labourers would not be in that state if other opportunities were available. However is this true? Due to the MGNREGS there is a shortage of labour throughout the country. A farmer with small holdings might opt for menial work in construction, manufacturing etc during the off-season to sustain himself. However with the scheme in place he is assured of work for 100 days. If he is satisfied with his income there is no incentive for him to take up further work.
Both incidents show a certain arrogance in the young(?) leader. He did not stop his over zealous party people from indulging in violence. The beggar remark shows the political immaturity of the Congress leader even though he has such qualified mentors and has spent so much time in the public eye. One can only wonder if this person is suitable to be the leader of this country, for it is a granted thing that unless he sacrifices the PM's post a la his mother he will become the PM of this country one day. Coming back to the title of this post - only Rahul Gandhi can probably commit such blunders and still escape unscathed, for it is the sycophancy of his party members that will sustain him throughout his political life.
1 comment:
Agreed that Rahul can get away with those remarks. However , the ground reality is the bitter truth. He was trying to get the message across to touch a cord with the people. There was no necessity to use such terms. However , I felt this was a political gimmick to garner some much needed attention n debate. Thanks to the multitude of news channels , the "info-viral" is aiding the hidden agenda he had in mind......to sum it up , I personally feel that it was not a blunder but a well planned move !!
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