Former deputy chairman of the now-defunct Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia revealing that former PM Manmohan Singh wanted to resign over Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on an ordinance only shows how immature Rahul Gandhi can be.
Bengaluru: Rahul Gandhi was, and in future, maybe by March 2020, be the next president of the grand old party Congress again.
The 50-year-old is portrayed as the youth icon by the Congress and a potential prime ministerial candidate.
But the party scion (as some would call him) has been consistently goofing up.
The latest in the list of embarrassments is the “danda” remark for which the PM gave back most robustly on the floor of the house.
And two other remarks or observations made by Rahul Gandhi continue to haunt him for eternity.
In the year 2013, Rahul Gandhi invalided an ordinance which was overseen by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The ordinance was to negate a SC verdict on convicted lawmakers.
He had said, "It is complete nonsense. It should be torn up and thrown away.”
Consequently, Manmohan Singh, who was on a US tour then, sought the advice of Former deputy chairman of the now-defunct Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia whether he should be resigning.
Singh, though on his part, revealed such an action was not needed.
Waiting to latch on to such blunders, the BJP reacted strongly.
Its spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said, “This entire incident of Montek Singh Ahluwalia is another example of Dr Manmohan Singh's helplessness. At that time Rahul Gandhi's act of trashing the ordinance was not only an insult to the country but an insult to the country's Prime Minister, he made a joke of the country's cabinet, a joke of the country's population. He (Manmohan Singh) did not need to ask, if he had the self-respect, he should have simply tendered in his resignation.”
Much before this in 2013, Rahul Gandhi had unnecessarily targeted the Hindu community.
Rahul Gandhi had told the then US ambassador thus: “Although there was evidence of some support for [Islamic terrorist group Laskar-e-Taiba] among certain elements in India's indigenous Muslim community, the bigger threat may be the growth of radicalised Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community".
The BJP, then too, did not miss out on an opportunity to criticise the leader.
A senior BJP leader had then said, "This is the level of the Congress and Rahul. It was indeed shameful that he tried to link Modi with it. We demand an explanation from Rahul on this. He should be ashamed of himself as he thinks that LeT is less dangerous that Hindu saffron terror. And now, he is visiting temples in Gujarat.”
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