Are our political leaders qualified enough to lead the nation and take administrative decisions? Do they know enough political history to pass an examination?
Well, the Congress party has decided to question their leaders with a 14-question paper to fill the position of the spokesperson.
A bunch of around 70 die-hard Congressmen – including some who claim to have congress party principles in their DNA – faced a written test followed by an interview to retain their positions as party spokespersons in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
Though the paper contained just 14 questions, the drill came as a surprise to all and gave goosebumps to the old generation while compelling the younger ones to seek rescue from Google search to fill in the blanks.
‘How many parliamentary seats are there in UP?’ and ‘Into how many divisions and blocks is UP divided into?’ were some of the questions that worried the Congress leaders, compelling some candidates to ‘dropped out’.
Convener for All India Congress Committee communication cell Priyanka Chaturvedi along with a teammate Rohan Gupta and UPCC chairman Raj Babbar conducted the interviews. Sources stated that the ‘merit list’ would be out by Saturday.
Even as the ‘one-on-one sessions’ were underway, the questions asked became a talking point for all. “Do you know the Congress party vote share in 2004 Lok Sabha?” asked one candidate from a youth Congress worker near a tea-joint in the party office vicinity. In reply, the youth said: “Sir… I have the PDF in my laptop…” The senior one advised him to mug up the details as they would come handy in future.
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Some of the candidates who faced the interview shared their experience for the larger benefit of those in the queue. Others have quick tips like “aaj ki headlines toh daikh lo” and “twitter pe account hai ya nai… nahi hai toh jaldi bana lo.”
One major exercise was to pick three major headlines of the day and convey the party’s viewpoint through a press release.
The saddest part of the entire show was the presence of just five women candidates – which appears ironical considering Rahul Gandhi’s vision of giving more opportunities to women and youth. One of the women candidates admitted that she had not planned to apply for the media cell. “I made an on the spot decision thinking to try her luck as there was hardly any competition,” she confided.
Priyanka Chaturvedi claimed the ‘exam- interview’ was an exercise to assess the team which, she said, would be the face of the party.
“So they have to be well versed with the legacy of Congress and the issues plaguing their state,” she averred. However, there were some dissenting voices also emanating at the party office over the manner of screening the leaders.
Priyanka Chaturvedi, however, got the jitters when her panel interviewed a candidate from eastern UP who was asked about his association with the party, he narrated his ties of over four decades with the grand old party and a decade as spokesman.
Here’s a look at some of the questions asked in the test:
— How many blocks and zones are there in Uttar Pradesh?
— How many seats are reserved in UP in Lok Sabha elections?
— How many seats did Congress win in 2004 and 2009?
— What was the percentage of vote share that Congress got in 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 Assembly elections?
— How many Lok Sabha and Assembly seats are in UP?
— In UP, how many Assembly seats make one Lok Sabha seat?
— How many Lok Sabha seats have less than or more Assembly seats as per the rules?
— What are the key points of failure of Yogi Adityanath government?
— What were the achievements of the Manmohan Singh government?
— What are the three main headlines today on which Congress spokespersons can issue statements?
— Why do you want to become a spokesperson?
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