‘Andhbhakt is convinced another person is God’: Rahul Gandhi's quote sparks row
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New Delhi: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday invoked a conversation with students to launch a sharp attack on the government and the education system during his speech in Parliament, as the Lok Sabha resumed discussion on the government’s new anti-paper leak law.
The speech, which centred on “students” and “andhbhakts” — two of three categories Gandhi referred to — triggered strong protests from BJP MPs. The third term he used was later expunged from the parliamentary records by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for being objectionable.
Gandhi began his speech by recounting a conversation he said he had with a group of young female students.
“I was wondering how I should start this speech… I thought a good point would be a conversation I had with some students — young girls — which gave me an interesting perspective,” Gandhi said.
He recalled asking one of the students whether being a student simply meant studying in a school or college.
“She gave me a beautiful answer — ‘a student is someone who has an open mind. One who accepts he doesn’t know everything,’” he said.
Gandhi then said the student described another category of people as those who were “convinced they know everything” and “believe they are God”.
The term Gandhi used to describe this category was objected to by the Speaker and subsequently removed from the records.
“So then I asked her, ‘what about the third category — the ‘andhbhakt’? She said an ‘andhbhakt’ is convinced another person is God,” Gandhi said, as his remarks were met with loud protests from BJP MPs.
The first objection came from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.
“Through a student, he is using an (objectionable) word. It is him who is using the unparliamentary word. He can’t use it,” Rijiju said.
Gandhi responded mockingly, “But I didn’t use it for you.”
Despite objections from Rijiju and appeals from the Speaker for members to maintain order, Gandhi continued his speech, turning his focus to students, particularly those from economically weaker sections.
He said students and their families spend lakhs of rupees on private tuition and coaching classes, only to see their efforts undermined by question paper leaks.
“The rich pay… Rs 30-40 lakh… and get through. The poor are bypassed. Our system is cruel. Lakhs and lakhs of rupees are taken from our students. Everything is privatised (then) papers are leaked. It is extortion…” Gandhi said.
He alleged that the education system had been “captured” and said its “soul has been captured by the RSS”.
Gandhi then targeted former Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who, according to him, resigned last week after 36 days of Cockroach Janta Party-led protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, as well as his successor, Pralhad Joshi.
“The resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan is superficial because he never ran the education system. The education ministry is run by the RSS… The man who runs it (now) is the OSD sitting in the minister’s office,” Gandhi alleged.
He said students in India were not allowed to freely pursue their interests or question the system.
“Students are not allowed to be students in India… not allowed to follow their passion… not allowed to ask questions. So now students are saying ‘we will not become ‘andhbhakts’… they stood there — brave, imaginative, powerful — and faced whatever you threw at them,” Gandhi said, referring to the large number of school and college students who participated in the Jantar Mantar sit-in protest and faced police lathi charges.
By then, proceedings in the Lok Sabha had descended into chaos.
The situation worsened after Gandhi also targeted Union Home Minister Amit Shah, alleging that he was absent from the discussion out of fear.
The remark triggered another uproar in the House and proved to be the final flashpoint, forcing Speaker Om Birla to adjourn proceedings until 3 p.m.