Bengaluru: It is the season of elections and everything is bound to be looked at with a jaundiced, political eye — as is HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar’s absence from New Delhi and increased presence in Karnataka at a time when the CBSE paper leaks rocked the country.
On Thursday, when parents and students across states were worried over the leaked CBSE examination papers and the re-test announcement, Karnataka Congress thought it was a good opportunity for its next barb on Prakash Javadekar.
From meeting strangers, seeking votes in door-to-door campaigns to planning a good part of the campaign and strategising over the last three months, the central minister has been spending nearly three days a week in Bengaluru. With the responsibility of CBSE lying on him, questions are being raised on whether the Karnataka election duties has caused this negligence towards his own ministry.
“The lives of 28 lakh students are affected because of Union Minister of Higher Education Prakash Javadekar’s incompetence… Instead of spending most of your time bad-mouthing the people of Karnataka, why don’t you do your job, Mr Javadekar?” the Karnataka Congress wrote on Twitter.
Javadekar is one of the Union ministers vested with the ‘charge’ of party affairs in Karnataka ahead of the Assembly elections, the other being Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.
Javadekar has in fact rented out a flat in the upmarket Sadashivanagar area in Bengaluru for a few months since December. From area-wise ‘Bengaluru Rakshisi’ (Save Bengaluru) padayatras to the recently-concluded Rajya Sabha elections, his has been a prominent presence in every event of the BJP in the poll-bound Karnataka.
The Marathi man was in for some surprise during his Karnataka stint once when Javadekar enthusiastically walked up to a woman with folded hands during a ‘Save Bengaluru’ campaign, asking ‘Namasthe, aapka naam kya hai,’ when the lady replied, “Kamalamma. Who are you?” Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde had to rush to his rescue and explain to the woman that she was talking to none other than the central education minister.
On Friday, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala thundered at a press conference in Bengaluru, saying, “Javadekar is busy electioneering and the exam mafia is flourishing under the HRD Minister. Why was the tenure of the CBSE chairperson till July 2020 curtailed by Javadekar? Why bring a new chairperson in September? Why did Javadekar and the CBSE chairperson shy away and keep denying that no paper was leaked? Why are you escaping from your responsibilities of an independent judicial enquiry into the link between the exam mafia and the HRD Ministry? Are you protecting someone?”
The BJP has sharply refuted the allegations, saying that no minister can be expected to stay at the headquarters throughout the day – pointing out that Javadekar has not been in Bengaluru in the past ten days.
“Congress is politicising every issue to further their prospects. I would urge them to find better issues to corner the NDA ministers – he (Javadekar) is discharging his duties without any shortcomings… and every minister has some party responsibility. Don’t trivialise the issue (of CBSE paper-leaks), it is a question of the students’ future,” BJP spokesperson, S Prakash said in defence.
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