As he trips all over the place, like a little kid with mummy’s ball of wool, the only trouble Rahul Gandhi‘s weltanschauung continues to get from the media is from sharp political cartoonists. Just two of them, actually, and an unlikely media vehicle called People’s Democracy.
On his latest stop during his discovery of India on SUVs, the Congress general secretary and member of Parliament from Amethi, revealed a customised version of his two-nation theory:
“Just as there are two Indias, one for the rich and the other for the poor, there are two [West] Bengals, one that glitters and is of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the other our Bengal, that of the poor and the backward.”
People’s Democracy, the weekly mouthpiece of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has hit back (and how), pointing out that Purulia, one of bengal’s poorest districts, was better off than Rae Bareli and Amethi, the pocketboroughs of Family No.1 for decades, on at least six socio-economic indicators:
People below poverty line: Purulia 31%; Rae Bareli-Amethi 54%
Families with electricity: Purulia 29%; Rae Bareli-Amethi 14%
Per capita expenditure: Purulia Rs 461; Rae Bareli-Amethi Rs 385
Vaccinated children: Purulia 84%; Rae Bareli-Amethi 16%
Neo-natal deaths: Purulia 46 per 1,000; Rae Bareli-Amethi 83
Fatality below five years: Purulia 89 per 1,000; Rae Bareli-Amethi 160
For the record, Rahul Gandhi’s great grandfather Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, his father Rajiv Gandhi, his uncle Sanjay Gandhi, and his mother Sonia Gandhi represented Amethi, before he himself was elected from there.
And, for the record, Rahul Gandhi’s grandfather Feroze Gandhi, grandmother Indira Gandhi, uncle Arun Nehru and his mother Sonia Gandhi have represented Rae Bareli since.
Cartoons: courtesy E.P. Unny/ The Indian Express (above); Prasad Radhakrishnan/ Mail Today
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Jesus, Mozart, Alexander and apun ka Rahul
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One question I’m dying to ask Rahul Gandhi—Part II
Only question anyone should ask Rahul Gandhi
External reading: Pocketed borough
churumuri 
How and When Will Rahul Gandhi be the Prime Minister: A Prediction http://is.gd/f3GaN
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It is a big farce. The latest American politician who went around discussing two americas is the disgraced John Edwards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Edwards
Hope Rahul baba does not meet same fate.
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Whats with Churumuri and Rahul Gandhi these days? Too many bashing articles….
By the way, give the prince some credit for taking some pain, travelling across India and seeing at least some things first-hand. Even if he gallivants across Europe, America and Colombia for the next 3 years and returns to India, his gaddi is safe.
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Rahul will rank just next to Deve Gowda as a PM!
The Congress party spokesperson seems to have approved his statement. What a shame.
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Left hit back with Purulia, since Rahul himself specifically mentioned about the underdevelopment of Purulia during his speech in Kolkata on Monday!
BTW, as someone who has spend better part of his life across several villages of Purulia, I am shocked what is the state of Amethi if the place is worse than Purulia.
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Prasad :
The Congress spokesperson defended Rahul saying CPM was juggling with numbers !!
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Being an Engineer I want the data before I come to conclusion. And data should be raw data from horse’s mouth and not interpretation.
Spurred by this debate and armed with some intelligent querying using google I came across this raw data..
Both the links are from rural development departments of two states in question. This data pertains to census done in 2002. Next census for BPL(Below Poverty Line) is scheduled next year.. so till the next survey results are in we have to use 2002 data.
The link given below is data from UP.
http://rd.up.nic.in/bpl2002.htm
You can not search for Amethi in 2002. Amethi was carved into a district this year only.. look for sultanpur district which housed Amethi then. As for Rae Bareli.. you had that even in 2002.
The link given below is data from WB for the same purposes.
http://www.wbprd.nic.in/html/misc/bpl2002.htm
This data was part of 2002 BPL census so these two data are comparable.
However WB published only household’s below poverty line and not individuals below poverty line. So we can use only household data for comparison.
Based on that Purulia has 44% familiies below poverty line
Amethi has 55% families below poverty line and Rae Bareli has 62% families below poverty line.
Nehru family was the disaster for India. For 60 years if this family could not solve poverty at their home constituency why do we still have imbeciles licking their feet. India please wake and smell the coffee.
Entire problems of India are because of this family.
Rahul is probably reading speeches written by Chachaji!!!! written to be read at Amethi and Rae Bareli!!!!
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And today, the little Pappu got more flak for talking about Hindu “terrorists” as a larger threat to Indian than the Lashkar-e-Toiba.
This Pappu has hardly any brains saala.
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Wow, this is really amazing! This question is one that needs to be asked of Rahul Gandhi. I really hope that a reporter will ask him this in his next interview. Frankly, one would expect that leaders as famous as Rahul Gandhi would turn around their constituencies – they have the clout to do it.
Electricity, healthcare facilities, vaccinations – these are things that the clown prince can easily deliver with his clout. If he really puts his mind to it, he can transform the constituency, and the question really needs to be asked as to why it has not happened.
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I think JL Nehru always ran from Phulpur, near Allahabad.
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