Modi says Rahul's PM remark is dynastic ‘arrogance'
Chikmagaluru (Karnataka), May 9: In the final lap of his campaign blitz in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a sharp attack against Congress President Rahul Gandhi, saying a "dynasty" aspiring to be the Prime Minister was sheer "arrogance".
Addressing back-to-back rallies at different places in the southern state, which votes on Saturday to elect a new government, Modi said Congress leaders were arranging big meetings and conspiring to remove him.
Taking a swipe at Gandhi, Modi said he was day-dreaming of becoming the Prime Minister in 2019.
"There is a leader of Congress who thinks only about one thing throughout the day - how to be the Prime Minister. Such is the arrogance of the 'naamdhaar'. This naamdhaar (dynasty) doesn't care about others who are standing in the queue.
"He came like a bully, marched his way ahead when there were others waiting with so many years of experience. How can someone just declare himself the Prime Minister? This is simply nothing but sheer arrogance."
He said Gandhi with an "inflated ego despite losing 25-30 elections in the last four years" didn't even bother about the leaders who have been waiting for 40 years and about other allies in the UPA.
"The Congress has lost in almost all the states in the last four years. But the ego of the 'naamdhaar' is still bloated. He says he will become the Prime Minister in 2019. Isn't this his ego?"
During an interaction with prominent citizens in Bangalore on Tuesday, the Congress President had replied in the affirmative when he was asked if he was ready to be India's Prime Minister if the Congress emerges as the largest party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress hit back at Modi asking him if he thought he was the only one who had the right to be Prime Minister.
"Is Narendra Modi the only one with the right to be the Prime Minister?" Congress spokesman Anand Sharma asked.
Modi also accused the Congress, which has been in power in Karnataka for the last five years, of not doing justice with the aspirations of the people of the state and instead bringing six evils -- "Congress culture, communalism, casteism, crime, corruption and contract system" -- to the country.
He said Congress leaders were out on bail in a Rs 5,000 crore scam and had "absolutely no respect for many of our prominent institutions like the Election Commission, CBI, Army, Enforcement Director or Vice President's office.
"The Congress has been on a spree to disrespect and belittle these great institutions," Modi said, adding that they were were now questioning the judiciary and even calling for impeachment of the Chief Justice of India.
The Prime Minister also attacked his predecessor Manmohan Singh, who on Monday criticized the BJP government for its "disastrous policies" and "economic mismanagement", leaving the country with crises that were avoidable.
"When Manmohan Singh had his government in the Centre, the remote control was at 10, Janpath (official residence of former Congress President Sonia Gandhi)," he said.
Under his rule, Modi said, it were the people who held the remote control.
The Prime Minister said he would continue to follow the orders of the "high command" -- the countrymen, the citizens.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
_vb_22.jpeg)
