Rahul Gandhi's leave of absence and government snooping on him have been hot topic of discussion. As far as leave of absence is concerned I think media is overreacting and giving it more importance than it requires. Why make a hue and cry about 1 MP out of 450 MPs goes on leave of absence? There are other more important issues to cover than a mere MP going on leave. However the leave of absence when parliament is in session is something unheard of in the annals of politics and more so when there is an urgent need to revamp the party after its dismal performance in last elections. I remember several times he disappeared like this before too. It is not acceptable for a leader to vanish like this. These incidents show that he lacks the capability of taking quick and precise decisions. This absence may cost him good opportunity to put the NDA on mat on various issues, especially after BJP's humiliating defeat in the recent Delhi elections and the unqualified support for the congress led UPA on Land Acquision Bill provides the perfect setting for this grand old party to take on the role of an effective opposition. In fact Rahul Gandhi has been instrumental in 2013 amendments to Land Acquisition Bill. The budding leader should have taken advantage of these opportunities instead running away.
Coming to snooping, I think snooping or bugging by the party in power has become the order of the day, whether it congress or BJP. This evil started during Mrs Gandhi's time, the entire opposition protested against tapping of their phones. Another prominent incidence of snooping which escalated into a massive crisis was of illegal surveillance against Rajiv Gandhi led to fall Chandrasekhar government in 1991. But BJP is also not above the board. In fact Gujarat government was notorious for bugging and surveillance, one such case of snooping was of Madhuri Soni, who was kept under surveillance and everywhere she went that state was requested to do the surveillance. Even Nitin Gadkari was complaining of his phone being bugged. Surveillance is usually carried out on Home Minister or Home Secretaries written instructions but even that rule was not followed by the then Gujarat Government and I'm afraid that the same policy is being followed by Modi government even now. The act of snooping invades privacy of the person hence should not be practiced by any government.
