DELHI: The admission of Rabul Gandhi, the Prime Minister’s son in the prestigious St. Stephens college has blown into a full-fledged controversy.
Rahul got 61 present marks in his class XI examination. The cutoff point in the college admission was 80% this year. Admission is done in the college on the basis of the academic achievement as well as the performance in the interview.
Those with grades below the cutoff line are not even called for the interview.
Rahul sneaked in with 61% marks, faced a short interview, and ‘was promptly admitted by principal John H. Hala.
Rahul was admitted because of his achievement in rifle shooting. He has won some medals in the Delhi State Championship.
Vijay Kumar Goel, member university court has charged that Rahul was not eligible to get admission in the sports category under the university rules.
Opposition parties have condemned the alleged ‘nepotism’ in Rahul’s admission.
The president of the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Madam Lal Khurana, said that the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and the Janta Vidyarthi Morcha would launch an agitation against Rahul’s admission.
Khurana said that thousands of students would be deprived of college admission simply because their parents were not prime ministers. The Prime Minister, he said, owed and explanation to the students.
Meanwhile, Ms. Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul’s sister, who secured 57 percent marks was also trying to for admission at the Lady Sri Ram College or the Jesus and Mary College.
Old Stephanians recalled that there have been a number of instances in which even the members of the even the family of President of India were denied admission to the college because they did not make the grade.
It is tragic that the college authorities have sunk so low, one said.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 21, 1989
