Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Rahul Gandhi's antics are juvenile in nature' that was published in Newsband

Rahul Gandhi's antics are juvenile in nature

Rahul Gandhi’s “kisan yatra” In advance of the Assembly elections due early in 2017, was just to keep the spotlight on his presence in various ways. His “khaat sabhas” was clear indication of acute rural distress that the party is seeking to amplify. He resorted to indiscriminate attacks on all foes. It is very clear that the Congress party is desperate to be counted as a political force in U.P. and at the national level, the Congress’s chief ministerial candidate being Sheila Dikshit.

It is wrong to say that the Congress is 'down but not out'. It will remain out if it does not change its ways. For reaching this status the party has to go a long way. The party has to be stopped from being ruled by just one family. Instead the party should adopt a democratic method of choosing their leader.

Another thing is let the electorate of UP decide about the future of all Political Parties. The electorate is fast maturing than the parties. The political parties are still using age old strategies to lure the enlightened voters. Be it in the name of reservations, caste-based or anything else. The young voters now demand jobs, economic stability, development and all good things for their overall development.

An election campaign may take on seemingly different forms: "khaat sabha","baithak", elephant or cycle ride. But the electoral candidates all belong to one and the same category. It is wrong to say that elections should be contested just by the rich and powerful. We have big industrialists, MNCs trying to manipulate elections. According to Justice M Katju’s blog, each ‘serious' candidate in a Lok Sabha constituency has to spend about Rs 8 crore during an election. Why? Why can’t a common man like Arvind Kejriwal contest election? Anyway, whether it is the rich or poor who comes to power, both will use the public money, not their own  pocket money, to govern the country. Then why so much emphasis on the idea that the candidate should be very rich?  The rich candidates who form government also becomes corrupt. If they are rich why there is a need for them to be corrupt? Where does their money come from? And whose interests these candidates represent -- moneybags or the common people? So how can we, the common voters, exercise our power?

In UP, it is SP's family rule devoid of security and safety of its people including journalists or it was BSP Maya's failed social engineering lauded so high by 4media in those days and now we have Rahul Gandhi trying all the stunts to win seats in UP. Here is a case of leadership role thrusted down the throat of an unwilling and part time leader like Rahul Gandhi and not-so-healthy mother. This is not going to benefit Congress in future not only in UP but also in 2019.