Rahul 'crusader' Gandhi now wants to 'Save the Internet'

Even as India tries to adjust its head around the new, appearing-to-be-more-aware Rahul Gandhi, he has gone ahead and fired a fresh salvo at the ruling BJP government. After having championed the cause of farmer’s and having made his anger against the current land bill evident, he is now out to ‘save the internet’ and champion the cause of net neutrality.

Speaking in the Parliament, during 'Question Hour', Rahul attacked the Narendra Modi led BJP Government saying, "This government wants to sell-out the internet to the rich industrialists of this country. I am asking the government not to carve out the internet and hand it over to the industrialists.' He further said, "I want the government to immediately stop the TRAI consultation and write a clear law on net neutrality.'

Earlier in the day, he had moved an a notice of adjournment in the Parliament seeking discussion on the issue of net neutrality. The Speaker, Sumitra Mahajan allowed Gandhi to raise his concern, which was followed by a quick, but sharp rebuttal by Telecom and Information Broadcast Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Prasad said, "When Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks about Digital India, he wants that every citizen of this country gets access to the internet. The government not only wants e-governance, but wants to give access to mobile governance to all its citizens." He further added, " TRAI is holding a consultation within its jurisdiction, but the final say in the matter lies with the telecom ministry and eventually the cabinet."

The telecom minister also made a scathing remark at the previous UPA2 regime, referring to August 2012, when the then telecom ministry under Kapil Sibal had ordered internet service providers to block 16 Twitter accounts, including those of right-wing entities and leaders such as Sangh Parivar, Panchjanya magazine, and Pravin Togadia's blogposts, as wlee as hundreds of web-pages featuring user-generated content on websites such as Facebook and Youtube. Prasad said, "when we are discussing this matter, why don't we ask Rahul Gandhi, the able politician that he is, about the Twitter handles that were blocked in August 2012."

Post his 56-day vacation, this is the second time that Rahul Gandhi has attacked the Modi Government, providing a sense to the country that he might just have returned with an improved sense of issues to target, even touching all the correct ‘raw nerves’ of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government.

A month ago, Airtel’s Zero Plan and the TRAI’s consultation paper on over the top website usage created a huge furor amongst the youth in the country. The debate on net neutrality in India has reached such proportions that even Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerburg had to face the IRE OF India’s youth, resulting in many top internet companies leaving the internet.org platform.

Since then, TRAI has set up a consultation committee to discuss and debate the matter and arrive at a policy recommendation to the Telecom Ministry. Prasad, had earlier in the day said that the government has always been pro net neutrality and that a committee had already been set-up in January 2015 seeking opinion on the matter, the report on which will be submitted to DoT by the second week of May 2015. He further said that even this matter floated by TRAI will be first discussed by the department of telecom followed by the Telecom Commission and then a consolidated view will be taken.

Going by the current momentum of things, this session of the Parliament is clearly all about showcasing the fact that Rahul Gandhi is ‘back for good’ and the new rejuvenated Gandhi scion will be making it rather tough for the BJP. But, above all the noise, there is only one factor that will determine how successful Rahul Gandhi really is, and that is his consistency in picking up the correct issues and the aggressive, well-researched manner he goes about charging at the BJP.