Arun Jaitley takes on Rahul Gandhi, writes ‘How much does he know – when will he know’

Delhi: Hours after Congress vice president slammed Narendra Modi government in the Lok Sabha over a host of issues, BJP leader and Union Finance Minister​ Arun Jaitley took on Rahul Gandhi writing a scathing blog on Facebook titled - ‘How much does he know – when will he know’.

Taking on the Congress leader for criticizing Prime Minister Modi, Jaitley said that the PM not only 'works hard and involves himself in the functioning of the various departments of the government, but inspires his team to work harder than we would have normally'.

 

Jaitley added that after hearing Rahul he felt that India had made the right choice between 'the Prime Minister who leads the government and a Prime Minister who is merely implementing decisions taken elsewhere'.

The FM also said, "Shri Rahul Gandhi’s views are shaped by the environment of a political party which has evolved into a ‘crowd around a family’."

 

Following is the full text of Jaitley's blog:

The Congress vice president, shri Rahul Gandhi, has claimed that the Prime Minister hardly consults his senior ministers. If shri Rahul Gandhi is to be believed, then smt Sushma Swaraj is not consulted on the Pakistan policy,  shri Rajnath Singh was unware of the Nagaland accord and, presumably, I am unware of the Budget proposals.

As one evolves from a young to a middle-aged one, we certainly expect a certain level of maturity. The more I hear shri Rahul Gandhi, the more I start wondering “how much does he know – when will he know”.

 

The Prime Minister should be the natural leader of the party and the government. In the NDA it is so. The UPA was quite different. The Prime Minister is to lead by example. The present Prime Minister not only works hard and involves himself in the functioning of the various departments of the government, but inspires his team to work harder than we would have normally. Each one of us, whether the External Affairs Minister, Home Minister or myself, are responsible for each important decision taken by each of one departments. We do not by-pass the Prime Minister who is always available for consultation and guidance. After hearing shri Rahul Gandhi, I think India has made the right choice between the Prime Minister who leads the Government and a Prime Minister who is merely implementing decisions taken elsewhere.

Shri Rahul Gandhi’s views are shaped by the environment of a political party which has evolved into a ‘crowd around a family’. The UPA model of governance was that if a person outside the family is the Prime Minister, he should be reduced to being a figure-head. Given a choice between a ‘hands-on’ Prime Minister or a ‘nominal’ head, I would unhesitatingly choose the former.

 

Rahul today launched a scathing attack on PM Modi and his government over the "fair and lovely" scheme on black money and the raging trouble in JNU and Hyderabad University.

In acerbic remarks on Modi's style of functioning, the Congress VP accused him of not listening to anyone's opinion including that of his ministers and MPs.

 

"You have been taught by your teachers in the RSS that there is one truth in the universe - your own and nobody else's opinion matters," he told the treasury benches while speaking on the motion of thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha.

"The Prime Minister cannot run the country with his opinion alone.  The country is not PM and PM is not the country," he said in a 40-minute speech during which PM Modi was absent.

Attacking the scheme on black money announced in the budget on Monday, Gandhi said, "Nobody who has black money will be jailed under Modi's 'Fair and Lovely' scheme.  All those who have black money can make it white under this scheme," as per PTI.

Recalling Modi's promise of putting people with black money behind bars, the Congress leader said the government had instead come up with a way to help such people.

He was referring to the one-time four-month compliance window announced by Jaitley under which people with domestic black money can come clean by paying 45 percent tax and penalty and get immunity from prosecution.

Gandhi was sharply critical of the government over the turmoil in Delhi's JNU and maintained that student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been charged with sedition, had not uttered a single word against the law but was behind bars while the "real culprits" were roaming free.

Questioning PM Modi's silence over the JNU episode, Gandhi said that he had not uttered a single word when teachers and the media were attacked in the Patiala House court complex in the capital when Kumar was brought there for a hearing.

"Which religion teaches to assault teachers," he asked.

Gandhi said that 60 percent of students in JNU belonged to Dalits, minorities and OBCs and 40 percent of them came from a poor background.

"Why are you after the JNU? Because dalits and adivasis study there and you don't want them to grow. But we will not let this happen. We cannot crush the JNU," he asserted in the course of his speech interrupted by the ruling NDA members.

Referring to the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in the Hyderabad Central University, Gandhi said that the PM had not bothered to call his mother.

He also attacked PM Modi's Pakistan policy and accused him of releasing  that country from a "small cage" in which the UPA government had put it through its diplomacy by suddenly visiting Lahore to have tea with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

(With Agency inputs)