BackRahul Gandhi and his interventions in Lok Sabha
Participating in parliamentary proceedings through interventions seems to be Rahul Gandhi's new-found priority
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New Delhi: Making up for his absence in the first half of the budget session, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has raised key issues such as farm distress, net neutrality and foodgrain procurement after recess.
Participating in parliamentary proceedings through interventions seems to be the new-found priority for the 44-year-old leader, who made another intervention during the zero hour on Thursday regarding his parliamentary constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. He asked why did the central government cancel the mega food park project that he had promised to the farmers of Amethi.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Amethi during the election campaign last year, gave a 52-minute speech and said that he was there not to do politics of revenge but politics of change. I liked his statement then. All that political leaders have are promises. He said he will not do politics of revenge, but it happened, the food park was cancelled," he said.
This was Gandhi’s fourth intervention in the Lok Sabha ever since it reconvened on 20 April. Here’s a look at Gandhi’s legislative performance:
As a Lok Sabha member: Gandhi is a three-time Lok Sabha member from Amethi, from where he was first elected in 2004. He is currently a member of the standing committee on external affairs and of the consultative committee for the ministry of finance and corporate affairs.
Past legislative performance: According to New Delhi-based PRS Legislative Research, Gandhi participated in only two debates, asked no questions on the floor of the House and had an attendance of 43% during his first term as an MP from 2004 to 2009. During his second term as an MP from 2009 to 2014, Gandhi participated in four debates, did not ask any question and had an attendance of 50%. During both these terms, the Congress was the ruling majority at the Centre.
Interventions in this session: Ever since the BJP formed the government last year, Gandhi has made five interventions, according to PRS Legislative Research. Four of the five interventions have been made after 20 April. Even as party president Sonia Gandhi continues to lead the Congress in Parliament, according to senior party leaders, interventions in the Lok Sabha on critical issues top the agenda for Gandhi’s revival plans for the party.
Issues taken up: The two key issues that Gandhi took up are farm distress and food procurement, which have been a part of the pro-poor pro-farmer push of the Congress party in the past two months. The timing for both the interventions were interesting. While the farm distress issue was picked up by him a day after his party staged a massive farmer rally in the national capital, the food procurement issue was taken soon after his visit to farmer mandis in Punjab.
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