Rahul Gandhi calls 7-year-old child ‘young man’ in Indian parliament, draws laughter

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha (lower House of the Indian Parliament), made an amusing slip of the tongue while addressing the parliament during a debate on the Constitution on Saturday (Dec 14). While narrating an incident from the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Gandhi referred to a seven-year-old child as a “young man,” which left MPs from the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) laughing.

“Thousands of years ago in a dense forest, a yuva (youth)… a yuva of 6-7 years of age…” Gandhi said, referring to the story of Eklavya. Before he could complete his address, NDA members began questioning his choice of the word yuva (youth) for a child.

Realising the mistake, Gandhi corrected himself and replaced “young man” with “child,” drawing laughs from Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and Ashwini Vaishnaw. He then continued with his speech, drawing parallels between Eklavya, who was asked to cut off his thumb, and the government’s actions affecting young people.

“The way Dronacharya cut off Eklavya’s thumb, you are cutting off the thumbs of the entire nation. Young people prepare for exams, but then they discover the papers have been leaked,” Gandhi said.

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He added, “When you hand over Dharavi to Adani, you cut off the thumb of entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses. When you hand over India’s ports, airports, and defence industry to Adani, you cut off the thumbs of all honest and fair businesses in India.”

The Congress leader also attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by quoting VD Savarkar, saying that the Hindutva ideologue “did not find anything” Indian about the Constitution. He said that Savarkar was more drawn to Manusmriti than to the Constitution drafted by the Constituent Assembly.

“Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worshippable after Vedas for our Hindu nation and from which our ancient times have become the basis for our culture, customs, thought, and practice. This book, for centuries, has codified the spiritual and divine march of our nation. Today, Manusmiriti is the law. These are the words of Savarkar,” Rahul Gandhi said.

(With inputs from agencies)