Latest addition to Rahul Gandhi's list of gaffes: Number of seats in Lok Sabha is 546
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is currently in the United States and is amassing headlines with his well-crafted extempore even as he addressed the students at the University of California in Berkeley.
Speaking on 'India at 70: Reflections on the Path Forward', Rahul spoke about the contemporary India and its way forward as the world's largest democracy. But what caught everybody's eye is a minor, but hopefully unintentional, gaffe.
While answering a question, he got the number of seats in the Lok Sabha wrong.
Rahul said the number of seats in the Lower House was 546, not 545.
While a Legislative House cannot have an even number of seats, what's more unceremonic, in this incident, is that the Gandhi scion cannot go through an event without making innocent gaffes.
The "mispronounced" number had the Twitterati have a field-day.
One of the users tweeted, "Too much to expect #RahulGandhi to make it through the evening without at least a minor gaffe. (Lok Sabha strength is 545 members, not 546.)"
Too much to expect #RahulGandhi to make it through the evening without at least a minor gaffe. (Lok Sabha strength is 545 members, not 546.)
— Sadanand Dhume (@dhume) September 12, 2017
#RahulGandhi says there are 546 (not 545) members in Lok Sabha! How can a legislative House have even number of members? #RGinUS
— Rakesh M Chaturvedi (@ET_Rakesh_RC) September 12, 2017
Another instance that added to Rahul's woes was when a woman (probably) asked a question not-to-the-liking of the Congress leader and had her shut up.
But she wasn't someone to have been silenced without much retaliation. She retorted, "How is this free speech, if you are controlling what is being asked?"
A lady from crowd heckles moderators at Rahul Gandhi prog ,"how is this free speech if you are controlling what is being asked?" #UCBerkeley
— ANI (@ANI) September 12, 2017
The Gandhi scion, who is on a two-week visit to the United States, will interact with global thinkers, political leaders and NRIs.
-ANI
First published: 12 September 2017, 10:36 IST