On April 5, Rahul Gandhi interacted with students in Pune in a program titled Pune Students Dialogue. In the event, the Congress president took few questions from the students present in the event, which was moderated by RJ Malishka. During the interaction session, the moderator called names of students from a list, and the students asked their questions accordingly. This was the same event when students started chanting “Modi Modi” when Rahul Gandhi said that he love PM Narendra Modi.
Now it has emerged that the entire question-answer session was scripted, and many students also have alleged that the didn’t get any change to ask questions to Rahul Gandhi. India Today journalist Pankaj Khelkar talked to the students after the event was over, and the students told him that the program was scripted.
Even the first time voters can clearly see through the drama of Rahul Gandhi. Scripted questions and the answers were different from the questions asked ? @pokershash @ExSecular @Being_Humor @Ra_Bies @TheAngryLord pic.twitter.com/uVNyi74QOP
— Chowkidar Abhishek (@HanAbBol) April 7, 2019
When asked if the students got a chance to ask questions, one of the students said, “no no no, everything was scripted, they didn’t let us ask any question”. The students also said that Rahul Gandhi already knew the questions, and the answers that he gave were a bit different than the questions that were asked. They said that Rahul Gandhi didn’t give proper answers to most of the questions.
One of the students said that only 5 or 7 students got chances to ask questions, while another student felt that the event wasted time in dance and music show which could have been used to take more questions.
But some students seemed to be satisfied with the event. One girl said that she is not connected with the Congress party, but her question was selected, which means that the event was scripted. But she informed that organisers had collected questions in writing in advance from many students, and some of them were picked up during the event. This means the allegation that the event was scripted is not entirely false as the organisers collected questions in advance and selected which questions will be answered by Rahul Gandhi, and the Congress president also got the chance to prepare the answers.
When asked about whether PM Narendra Modi also should interact with students like Rahul Gandhi, students said that the PM is already doing that. They said that PM talks to people through programs like Man ki Baat, and one student also said that PM’s Pariksha pe charcha program is more relevant to them compared to the Rahul Gandhi’s interaction. They said that they don’t see any output of this program.
The entire interview with students by India Today can be watched here:
