Rahul’s attack on Modi backfires

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday faced some embarrassing moments when a large section of his student audience at a women’s college responded with a resonating “Yes” to his poser on whether they thought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Swachchh Bharat and Make in India campaigns were working.

During an interaction with students of Mount Carmel College, Mr Gandhi took an instant poll, asking the young audience about the twin flagship programmes while slamming the Modi government.

Mr Gandhi asked the students whether Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) was working, to which most replied with a resounding “Yes”.

It didn’t end here as the Congress MP again asked the students if they thought the “Make in India” programme was really working and the students again gave the same reply, making the leader apparently uncomfortable.

Mr Gandhi hastened to tell the audience that he differed with them. “You might see it, I don’t,” Mr Gandhi, who sported a grey T-shirt, said, adding, “Any-way, I don’t clearly see a vision that the BJP is projecting.” The interaction was the first of a series planned to reach out to students on campuses across the country.

Mr Gandhi later told reporters that the nature of the response of the students to his questions was not clear. “Actually it was not clear. On Swachchh Bharat, half the room said nothing had happened and some said something had happened.” — PTI

On Make in India, I think more people said not much had happened, some said things have happened.”

The kind of response by the students to Rahul’s poser led the BJP to say his “disconnect” with the ground was “exposed” and shown through the mirror by the youths of the country. “When asked about Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan and Make in India, the youths of this country said that these concepts are moving ahead and Rahul was shocked. Why was he shocked Because of the very fact that he has a great disconnect, he does not know the vibrations on the ground. Leave aside the country, he cannot lead the youth of the country,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.

He said Rahul has “no capacity” to lead even the youths not to speak of the country. “His ignorance was snubbed by the young students,” he said. BJP Secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said Gandhi’s interaction with students at Bengaluru should caution Congress Party and leadership that Indian youth is not willing to accept “obstructionist and negative” agenda of Congress.

“The snap poll done by RG is a good indicator that PM Modi’s initiative like ‘Swachh Bharat’, ‘Make in India’ and others have strong support of the youth. It was quite heartening to learn that Indian youth had straight questions on why GST and other reforms are being blocked. “We hope RG and Congress would learn from the interaction that Indian Youth want Parliament to function and therefore they would not disturb the winter session,” he said.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, however, said Gandhi answered questions unlike Prime Minister Modi and this is the way for the country’s leader to interact. “This is the way, the leader of the country should interact with the young and the countrymen everywhere — sometimes disagreeing with them, sometimes agreeing with them and aswering their basic inquisitiveness on how India should look in 5 years, 10 years and 20 years. Rahul ji has answered, what no other political leader has done. Seeking to contrast Rahul’s interaction with that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with students on November 14, Surjewala alleged that a question asked by even a child was “fixed” two weeks back as reported by a newspaper.