Ahmedabad: India is “neither North Korea nor China” where expression of opinion is banned, Congress Rajya Sabha MP and Gujarat In-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said on Tuesday while defending humour and satire amid a political row over comedian Pulkit Mani’s mimicry of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rahul Gandhi’s student outreach programme in Indore. Speaking to IANS during his Gujarat visit, Surjewala said: “In India, we have always accepted light hearted comments as an essential ingredient of our democratic setup.
We are neither North Korea nor are we China where there is a ban on expression of opinion.” He added that humour, satire and pointed questions had traditionally been part of India’s democratic discourse, citing the example of the country’s first Prime Minister late Jawaharlal Nehru. “In fact, if you remember Pandit ji, our first Prime Minister used to write articles by different names against himself so that people are able to question and criticise him either through humour or through satire or through even pointed questions,” he said. Surjewala’s comments came after a stand-up comedy performance by Mani at Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme in Indore triggered criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mani mimicked PM Modi’s mannerisms and style of speaking, including references to the Prime Minister’s interactions with foreign leaders. Rahul Gandhi was seen laughing during the performance.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju criticised the Congress following the performance, calling it a “party of comedians and jokers”, while other BJP leaders sought an apology from Rahul Gandhi over the incident. Surjewala, however, sought to shift the focus from the performance to the issues raised by Rahul Gandhi at the student outreach programme, particularly education, examination irregularities and youth unemployment. “The issue is a larger one. The issue is why has the education system crumbled that it no longer caters to the aspirations and hopes of the common youth?” he told IANS. Surjewala added, “Why are they (youth) being driven to desperation? Why is paper leak mafia instead of meritocracy ruling the roost? Why is education so expensive that it is beyond the means of a common person’s child? These are questions on the edifice of educational system and examination system that Rahul Gandhi is raising.”
The fifth edition of Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme was held in Indore on September 19 and centred on the theme of “system versus students”. Earlier editions had been held in Kota, Dehradun, Prayagraj and Pune. Rahul Gandhi used the event to raise concerns over paper leaks, scholarships, education funding, school closures and the cost of education. Surjewala said the BJP’s response to the Indore episode was an attempt to divert attention from the substantive questions raised by Rahul Gandhi. “Naturally, BJP has no answer, they are peeved, they are disturbed and they are hallucinating by raising non-issues. I reject them with the contempt it deserves,” he added.