"JDU must not interfere in BJP affairs'."
M. Venkaiah Naidu
"JDU must not interfere in BJP affairs'."
M. Venkaiah Naidu
Rahul Gandhi. This name evokes highly varied reactions from educated Indians today. On one hand this ‘destined to be PM’ scion of a highly influential politically dynasty has loyal followers. On the other, some truly heavyweight critics lash out at his inexperience and non-capabilities.
Let’s do an objective performance appraisal of Rahul Gandhi, using more data and less rhetoric. The data used here is available in the public domain, so you can check and inform us if there is a discrepancy. The hypothetical role we want you, the reader, to play is to be the manager of Rahul Gandhi at his work place. His work place is obviously the Parliament of the world’s largest democracy. So what factors would you have considered if you were given this very important role? Since his role is that of people management and their development, you might naturally track the following:
So here we go with these performance appraisal parameters. You can start keeping your rating records after each section.
Let’s hear Rahul Gandhi’s detractors once:
We have seen a very veteran legal expert Ram Jethmalani asking open, public questions to Rahul Gandhi, which he never answered. We have seen the same Jethmalani going even a step further to term this MP as a total disaster. The Indian Express has done some detailed reporting on the educational qualification claimed by Rahul in his MP affidavits, as not matching their investigations in Cambridge, UK. Subramanian Swamy, the biggest thorn to the Nehru dynasty of late, has even gone on record stating that Rahul is “dumb”. We can easily term the last one as the most damaging feedback you as an appraiser can collect about any Parliament’s member. There are numerous such allegations and exposes about the “Prime Minister-in-waiting” over the years.
Either Rahul Gandhi totally ignores such naysayers or he probably doesn’t have a good rebuttal to all these comments, facts and allegations presented in the public space by various personalities.
Let’s hear the ‘We Love Rahul Gandhi’ brigade:
On the other side of the spectrum, we have a long list of Rahul Gandhi supporters. Ashok Gehlot, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, wants Rahul to be a PM. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna wants Rahul Gandhi as a PM in 2014. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has openly expressed his desire to induct Rahul into the Cabinet. There are countless media houses doing yearly or half yearly roundups of the public mood in ‘favour’ of Rahul Gandhi occupying the top chair of India.
Here too, Rahul Gandhi has been playing a wait-and-watch game. He has said many times that he is not keen on becoming Prime Minister.
Whether he wants to become or not, the real question you, the appraiser, need to ask is: Has he proved himself in his current role, that is of an elected Member of Parliament?
Here’s Rahul’s ‘proven’ track record at his workplace:
We will explore some hard data using publicly available data from PRS Legislative Research, a very trust-worthy site for Parliament statistics. Here is Rahul Gandhi’s personal page there, with data updated a few days back: http://www.prsindia.org/mptrack/rahulgandhi
As we know, Rahul Gandhi has been a Lok Sabha MP since May 2004. The 2004-2009 period is covered under the 14th Lok Sabha and the rest is covered under the 15th Lok Sabha below.
Rahul Gandhi’s first five years as an MP (14th Lok Sabha):
You can download the full data used for this analysis from the official PRS site here: http://www.prsindia.org/MPTrack-14.xls
1. Debates: Congress party’s Rahul Gandhi attended five debates in five years. Compare with Shailendra Kumar (SP), from Rahul Gandhi’s State of UP, who participated in 340 debates. Also there were 350 MPs out of nearly 500 for whom data was collected, who participated in more debates than Rahul Gandhi.
2. Rahul presented zero private member’s Bill(s) during the 14th Lok Sabha. Compare this with CK Chandrappan (CPI) of Kerala, who presented 32 private member’s Bills. There were 64 MPs who presented at least one private member’s Bill. There were a total of 309 private member Bills presented and our MP could not find time to present even one in five years.
3. Rahul asked a grand total of three questions in five years. Compare this with Anandrao Vithoba Adsul (SS) of Maharashtra, who asked 1,255 questions, or 418 times more! There were 409 Lok Sabha MPs who asked more questions than Rahul Gandhi. There were a total of 89,055 questions asked by all MPs combined. Rahul Gandhi’s share was a whopping 0.0034 per cent!
4. Lastly, Rahul attended 63 per cent of the Lok Sabha assemblies. This was 6.84 per cent less than the national average and 6.9 per cent less than Uttar Pradesh’s average attendance.
Note that all these are computed leaving aside 47 members who happen to be having Minister or Speaker roles. To sum up these five years Rahul was among the bottom 150 in debates, zero in presenting private bills, asked 0.0034 per cent of total questions, and had a poorer attendance than both State and national averages.
Rahul Gandhi’s sixth, seventh and eighth years as an MP (15th Lok Sabha):
This is from May 2009 when the 15th Lok Sabha started, till the latest data made available as of end-August 2012. You can download the full data used for this analysis from the official PRS site here: http://www.prsindia.org/MPTrack-15.xls
1. Here, Rahul attended a grand total of one debate since 2009 till date. Compare this with the national debate average of 28.2 and Uttar Pradesh’s MPs’ debate participation of 33.2 debates. Also compare with Rajasthan’s MP Arjun Ram Meghwal (BJP) who participated in 322 debates so far. In total, 442 MPs participated in more debates than Rahul Gandhi.
2. Again, zero private member’s Bill has been presented by Rahul, like his last term. Compare this with Maharashtra MP Hansraj Gangaram Ahir (BJP) who presented 24 private member’s Bills till date. Sixty-eight MPs have presented, in the current Lok Sabha, at least one private member’s Bill.
3. To make things look extremely poor, Rahul Gandhi has not asked a single question in over three years! Compare this with the national average of 208 questions asked by each MP and the Uttar Pradesh MPs’ average of 172 questions. It would be astonishing to compare Rahul Gandhi with Anandrao Adsul (SS) of Maharashtra who has asked 861 questions in the current Lok Sabha! Yes 861 compared to Rahul Gandhi’s amazing count of zero. As many as 444 MPs have till date asked at least one question in the current Lok Sabha.
4. Rahul’s attendance in the current Lok Sabha is a mere 42 per cent. Compare this with the national MP attendance average of 77 per cent and Uttar Pradesh’s MPs’ attendance average of 80 per cent. Also, P T Thomas, K P Dhanapalan, Aruna Kumar Vundavalli and Ramesh Kumar must be feeling ashamed of their Lok Sabha colleague who has 42 per cent attendance while they have attended every single sitting till date. At least 472 MPs have a better attendance record in the current Lok Sabha than Rahul Gandhi.
Note that all these are computed leaving aside 58 members who happen to be having Minister or speaker roles. So among 487 MPs for whom records are available, Rahul is among the bottom three per cent for attendance, zero in private member’s Bill presentation, not one question when there have been 99,416 questions in total and among the bottom 10 per cent in debate participation. Hello Mr or Ms Appraiser, hope you are making a good note of his ‘stellar’ performance. Note that he is not holding any Cabinet post which would take time away from doing his basic job as an MP, working hard for the citizen who elected him to that coveted position.
(Tomorrow: Rahul Gandhi’s vacation notifications and other such things.)
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Pankaj Singh
September 9, 2012 at 10:34 am
Though this article targets Rahul Gandhi specifically I want to see it in a different perspective. It’s more to do with electoral reforms. We don’t want showpiece members of parliament. If they are not doing their job then they should be removed and mid term election must happen. ‘ye koi araam farmane ki jagah nahi hai’
Dhruv Bhardwaj
September 13, 2012 at 12:16 pm
Very valid point Sir
Sudhir
September 9, 2012 at 10:39 am
wow … nice analysis ! even after all this, we have foul-mouthed and arrogant supporters like Mani, whom I heard in an interview, saying he would rather support someone (RahulG in the case) who comes out rather than one who ducks in (referring to a qn asked relative to Sachin Pilot) ….
MUSLIM BHAGAWAT
September 9, 2012 at 11:03 am
Who is Rahul Gandhi?Why so much euphoria for him?He is a son of Rajiv-Sonia gandhi.An italian passport holder with dual citizenship by virtue of her birth from the wombs of an italian citizen.Nothing else.Once election declares him unseated from his seat in UP he is no where in Power politics and just an indian citizen having dual citizenship unfit for post of PM.Yes he is unfit for PM and any other position in Govt as our constitution doesnot grant permission to dual citizenship and dual passport holder.As becoz Congress is in power and his mother is indian empress he is is not yet booked for having two passports or else he would have been jail by now.Baba Ramdevs chela was arrested and put in jail for fraud in passport allegaed by CBI although it is nothing but Rahul Ganndhi has two passports and he tarvels by both is proved beyond time
Chandrashekhar
September 9, 2012 at 12:21 pm
The point is not what he is as in individual. Point is what he is as an asset. He is a bank guarantee for Congress Party. Party which comprises of laks of people all over india who wants to partake in power and get benifit by having power. How he is asset ? People of India vote for Gandhi family+ Congress because :
People of India are poor
Less educated
No time to have critical thining of impact of thier vote
Habituated to vote for Congress
Do not diferentiate role of Cong party now and dring freedom struggle
Nehru, Gandhi were saviour of Indian’s pride and dignity and all thier
family would naturally be same
Sam
September 9, 2012 at 11:29 am
Great work as usual by Kiran . Kiran is a superb data interpreter and speaks bang on point backed by proper logic and numbers to provide solidity.looking forward to more such articles from you .
Sameer
Andy
September 9, 2012 at 11:40 am
very useful article to show the clear picture of our leader. hope all indian citizen apply their mind before selecting this kind of leader…must say NITICENTRAL is presenting truly independent picture
Vikash Kumar Roy
September 9, 2012 at 12:07 pm
When some of the country men projecting a “Youth Icon” as a PM so what is his responsibilities so far. Few valid points raised by Kiran KS ..
Let’s talk about UP election where he was projected as a sole savior of Congress party . Rita Bahuguna had lots of hope on this “Youth Icon “ but she had faced a big disappointment . Akhilesh smartly outsmarted him. Not that Akhilesh had some extra ordinary quality but he knows how politics of UP is played. After this loss youth icon decided to relax . Can anyone (I am hardcore Khaki brigade ) buy this that future PM relax after loss? Travelling by local train , eating with Dalit declaring himself as dalit will surely not make him a choice of PM candidate . Ppl of India looking out for serious PM face and not the holidaying “Youth Icon” who feelings for poor comes out during election session
Sauresh
September 9, 2012 at 12:56 pm
His mom, who is holding a far more responsible position as party chief, has worse statistics – 3 debates, 0 private bills, 0 questions asked, and a dismal 36% attendance. So why so much focus on Rahul and not his mother? In any case, both mom and son own Congress and having absolute control over the party and UPA govt, they don’t need to participate in the proceedings of parliament to get things done. They have Ambika Soni for all these laborious tasks. What’s the point of being Queen and Prince of India, if you have to do all the work yourself?
d2thdr
September 13, 2012 at 5:02 pm
Antonia is now old and apparently very unwell too. So she is not the one who is looked as a saviour very much in the Christian sense.
Rahu (L) is looked as a saviour because he is a young gun. Rajiv was a young gun (with more experience) when he was a PM. The congis still hope Rahu (L) will save their ill gotten wealth. Hence they want him as a PM.
Sush Jaitly
September 9, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Of course, for an MP. attendance and participation in debates are important indicators of his commitment to his people who put him in Parliament in the first place.
Even if we forget the intellectual and educational capabilities of Rahul Gandhi (rather lack thereof), the data proves beyond doubt that his commitment to this land and it’s people is a big ZERO.
This alone is reason enough to ensure that he never enters the sacred temple of our democracy, The Parliament, forget about making him the PM.
Thank you Kiran for a good insight into the doings/undoings of Rahul Gandhi.
Anon Bnon
September 9, 2012 at 5:43 pm
Hello,
How about appraisal of Sonia Gandhi too?
Thank you.
vs chowdhry
September 9, 2012 at 9:18 pm
ANY prudent person knows thatRG is totally unsuitable for any responsible job–PMs job is out of the question. ONLY sychophants promote him to please SG.
Paddy
September 10, 2012 at 2:09 am
Mr.Kiran Kumar,
It’s really unfortunate that this PM-in-waiting is such a dismal failure as an MP. Hope the people of Amethi realize this by the next LS elections.
Vikas
September 10, 2012 at 4:33 am
Dear Kiran,
Great job, hope this article helps Educated fools to open their eyes who blindly support this PM in waiting.
Gujju By Heart
September 10, 2012 at 8:03 am
Very good article.
I still feel pain in my heart when people of this nation keep re-electing CHORgress.
V.N.Seetharam
September 10, 2012 at 11:50 am
Only in India a nation of goons a person like Rahul who is such a dummy could be venerated tolerated and endured. Digvijay Singh a sycophant and a shameless side kick has now and then shared his profound wisdom about his deity to the amusement of many as we have greatly missed the jokers like Johnny walker for long.But to be very fair Rahul has never imposed himself on the hapless people with vengence like his mother who with utmost impunity
thrust upon us a person of Pratibha Patil’s calibre as the president a post which was sanctified by Rajendra Prasad, Zakir Hussain etc.Rahul by and large has been harmless and has been a reluctant Prince without the greed,belligerence and ruthlessness of Sonia. He has been a silent witness and a unwilling spokesperson not imposing himself as he knows his limitations. At least to that extent he is wise and decent.
Kapil Goyal
September 10, 2012 at 12:21 pm
I don’t want to talk about losers like Raul
Kiran Kumar
September 10, 2012 at 3:03 pm
Friends,
This is Kiran, the author of this writeup.
Thanks a lot for your overwhelming response. At the time of writing this, 199 tweets and 197 FB likes for this writeup.
There’s more numbers coming in the second part. Keep checking the website
And for those asking why not do a writeup on Sonia Gandhi, yes we can do. As one already pointed out, her performance is even more dismal. But the reason the focus is on Rahul is because he’s projected as the next PM, not Sonia.
Do comment on the second part when published and give your overall “Appraiser Rating” with 10 being the best rating. We are curious on behalf of Niti Central as to how our readers are rating the person projected by media and his party as the future PM.
- Kiran
T90
September 10, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Damn good article. Will our sickular media take notice of it?
Suraj
September 11, 2012 at 12:01 am
It is a shame he is being imposed upon the country as a PM . This country is supposed to a democracy . Instead this has been converted to a money laundering enterprise by the Nehru family .
Dinipc
September 11, 2012 at 12:13 am
Man, what a ripper! This must be mandatory reading in all schools and colleges of India! Simply astounding compilations! Hats off, Kiran!!
Mumbler of Parliament
September 11, 2012 at 8:10 am
Awww… just 42% attendance. And why does Baba need to attend Parliament. The real decision making is done by Madamji. Parliament does not do that. And being Madamji’s ladla, he simply has to sit in the real decision making session. Cho Chweet! Surely I can’t allow my TV channel to report something so inconsequential? Please stop being mean to my favourite to be PM. My media company will be very happy to see him become one! He is soooo sweet!
MANJEET AGROIYA
September 11, 2012 at 10:36 am
I we go by the data, Rahul does not fit in to the picture of a PM. But, in India, the rules of the game are different. Remember, president of India, Giani Jail Singh inducted Rajeev Ghandi ignoring many senior cabinet members. Now, you have Mr. Pranab Mukherjee as President – who is capable of overlooking all ‘rules and norms’ to induct Rajeev Gandhi as PM. In this scenerio, even the most relevant datas has no significance.
Ignitedmind
September 11, 2012 at 11:39 am
This is Kapil Sibal Performance !
Rishikesh Shenoy
September 11, 2012 at 2:35 pm
Guess the Questions ! ! !
Kiranji, I have a idea of competition for the readers.
In the 14th Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asked 3 questions. The readers can give a funny versions of these 3 questions.
For eg,
RG#1. Speaker Mahoday LS Canteen Kab Tak Khula Rahega ?
The funniest ones will be given a special prize.
NO PRIZES IF THE REAL QUESTIONS BEAT THE FUNNIER VERSIONS)
What do you think ?
(I will sponsor the prize! ! ! )
Pramod Joshi
September 15, 2012 at 5:10 am
Interesting idea of the competition to find out what those 3 questions might have been! Here are a few entries from me:
1. Speaker Mahoday – Kya meri awaaz sunai de rahi hai? Hello? Hello? (Oops, there are the three questions right there!)
2. Speaker Mahoday – Kya aap mukhe Mummy ke bagal me baithne ki ijaazat de sakte hain?
3. Speaker Mahoday – Kya aaj ki attendance ho chuki hai? Kya satr ke antim din aa kar meri baaki dinon ki attendance mark ho jayegi? Arre Digvijay ji, aap mere kurte ki baanh se kyun latak rahe hain? (Well, this will count as 2.5 questions, since the last was really an aside, but hey, at least they are questions!)
Sumedha
September 11, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Great work, analysis, data & research Kiran! Thank you!
After these 2 articles I honestly feel and appeal to everyone, not to waste anymore time and energy reading or talking about RahulG! Let’s move on….way too much to be done!
Salesh Aswani
September 11, 2012 at 11:02 pm
It is extremely sad and disheartening to read this article that shows us the state of indian politics and how real power in the hands of people who are motivated by self interest can harm a nation of a billion people.
I was not born in India, but have made regular visits their and I have personally seen the deterioration of a nation that is supposedly touted as the “next super power”. Then people ask why there is brain drain from India. Every Time our main stream media touts a leader for the PM position I feel, as an individual that something great is on the horizon, but then end up with the same disappointments of the past. The “reality” is never exposed like how Kiran does in this article.
We are loosing our edge in the world…with a billion people we are struggling in the political arena, where people like Mamta Banerjee come on television and yell at educated middle class in the audience that they are all leftist and support the “red” party. Or in the international media we hear that a cartoonist was arrested for depicting parliament and constitution in a derogatory manner. Yes I might not like the cartoons but i cannot curtail someones freedom to express there distrust or disgust for the symbols of governing “the largest democracy” in the world. In what way are we a democracy if I cannot express my disgust towards the people who are suppose to govern the affairs of the state because of the pathetic job they are doing.
Great job Kiran for such an article…even if I am unwilling to participate in a crippled democracy I can at least share this article and raise awareness and I sincerely hope through this awareness the next iron man of India is ignited to take this country to new heights.
appraisal
September 13, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Thanks for another magnificent post. The place else may anyone get that type of information in such a perfect method of writing? I have a presentation subsequent week, and I’m at the look for such information.
Muralidharan Pai
September 13, 2012 at 12:48 pm
I am worried about the fate of the Congress party without a credible leader and this may lead to the 2014 Lok saba elections as Waterloo for Congress party. With Rahul gandhi as its PM candidate the party is on the defensive and the congress leaders cannot think of a defeat, even though Sibal may say that Congress will rule another 60 years
karthic
September 13, 2012 at 12:54 pm
Kiran, article is the mirror to all the congress supporters, who ‘ve acheived success only by praising Raul and his mother. They can never become peoples LEADER, but they are corrupts “Politicans”.
All the so-called welfare schemes are to mint money and gain vote bank to remain in power. Deevlopment was never the fortie of congress.
More power and wisdom to you, Hope for posting blogs on Manmohan Singh and his illusioned HONESTY.
gk
September 13, 2012 at 3:41 pm
I’ll vote for Rahul if he can tell me the difference between Gopal Krishna Gokhle and Bal Gangadhar Tilak
shilendra kumar johr
September 14, 2012 at 2:16 pm
RG is not the PM material though he is being projected as such by the coterie of SG.
His organisation skills and charishma of his personality have been revealed in the state elections of Bihar and UP.
However, he can be elevated as a Union Minister as ministries are run by Babus and not politicians.The earlier the better to the satisfaction of SG and her sycophants as the congress will not be in Parliament on 2014.
shilendra kumar johr
September 14, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Rahul ji ka karishma to Bihar aur UP ke chunavon me dekha.PM ka to saval hi nahin uthta han unhe union minister zaroor banaya jaye kyonke ministries to babu chalate hain va congress ka 2014 elections me Parliament me ana to rahasya he hai.