Recent statements and remarks by some Congress leaders are creating confusion within the party which is finding it difficult to either defend or distance itself from them.
If the Gandhi-Nehru family loyalists R.K. Dhawan and Vassant Sathe’s recent statements created confusion within the party, Union minister Jairam Ramesh’s remarks indirectly questioning the performance of the HRD ministry embarrassed the party.
Mr Dhawan has alleged that the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi surrounded himself with “relatives and friends” who took him for a ride and cautioned him of making the same mistake. On the other hand, Mr Sathe said it is time Priyanka Vadra gets into active politics to help the party get back to power on its own in the 2014 general election by discarding the “crutches.”
Another Congress leader C.K. Jaffer Sharief, said, “Priyanka has the features of Indira. She has a mass appeal.”
“I endorse what Vasant Sathe has said and go further that Priyanka’s coming into active politics will add strength to the Congress. She looks like Indira. She already campaigns in Amethi and Rae Bareilly. She can add to that. There’s no question of her entry putting a question mark on Rahul’s future. Congress is a democratic party, but Gandhi-Nehru family is a unifying force,” Mr Sharief told a TV channel. A senior Congress leader on Tuesday wondered why the party leaders are making statements on every issues. “It is not necessary for everyone to speak on every subject,” the leader, who declined to be identified, said.
Meanwhile, the Congress left environment minister Jairam Ramesh to fend for himself over the controversy surrounding his remarks that faculty of the premier IITs and IIMs are “not world class”, but attacked BJP for its scathing criticism on the issue.
“I do not know in what context and what circumstances Jairam Ramesh has made the remarks. Whether it has been taken in context or out of context, he is the best person to be really be able to answer this question,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters at the AICC briefing.
“So far as IIM and IITs are concerned, there is no question or ambiguity about their contribution to Indian academia and even to building some of the primest institutions around the world.”
He was responding to questions on the remarks of Ramesh, which has evoked strong reactions from the academia and the main opposition party BJP.
Lambasting Ramesh for his remarks, BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said: “We cannot have world institutions unless we have world class ministers.”
Terming the BJP’s remarks as “naive”, Mr Tewari said: “We do not appreciate unsolicited advice from third class people as to who should be first class or who should be third class.”
Mr Ramesh’s remarks evoked strong reactions from the academia and the main opposition party BJP.
The government also appeared to have discounted Mr Ramesh’s remarks with HRD minister Kapil Sibal saying “Jairam has an opinion. Let Jairam have an opinion”.
The environment minister kicked up a controversy on Monday by claiming that the faculty of the IITs and IIMs are “not world class” but said these institutions are “excellent” because of the
quality of students.
The Congress also said nobody should politicise the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in comments that came after Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s remarks that the DMK was indirectly behind it.
Mr Tewari said that the Congress was “extremely sensitive” about the issue of Gandhi’s assassination.
“There should be no attempts to politicise such a dastardly incident, which has reverberated not only across the country but across the world,” Mr Tewari said.
“People should refrain from trying to politicise a tragedy of the proportions, which are undefinable,” he told reporters here.