05-07-2004, 01:29 AM
<b>Rahul Vinci</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->On the face of it, nothing seemed out of order. It had been whispered earlier in Delhiâs social circles that Rahul was an MPhil (Cantab). At the time of his nomination, his sister Priyanka too had claimed to a television channel that Rahul was âhighly educatedâ. Yet, for those intent on nit-picking, there was something very peculiar about Rahulâs claims. How, it was asked, was Rahul awarded an MPhil when he did not list either a BA or a BSc among his qualifications? It was well known that Rahul had spent a year at St Stephenâs in Delhi. That is not time enough to write a BA examination. He had also spent some time in Harvard, where a BA takes four years to complete. If he had a Graduate degree from Harvard, it is not something he would have kept under wraps or omitted to mention.
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Cambridge apologized for the initial reply. The confusion, it seems, had taken place because Rahul had registered in Cambridge not as Rahul Gandhi but on the basis of what the registry in Cambridge said was his motherâs maiden name. This, they claimed, was done for âsecurity reasonsâ. It was a perfectly credible explanation since the British authorities invariably recommend the use of aliases for those who have reasons to be wary about their personal safety. Consequently, it was indeed possible that Rahul assumed the surname Maino for his yearâs stint in Cambridge.
The matter did not end here. When pressed for a final confirmation of the name, the authorities in Cambridge disclosed that the pseudonym was Rahul Vinci
The details of Rahulâs Cambridge degree and his pseudonym have been known to the Bharatiya Janata Party for the past fortnight. The party could well have used it for some low-level attack suggesting Rahulâs preference for Italian rather than Indian names. But it chose to overlook the whole issue on the ground that personal attacks of this nature yield no political returns and instead generate public sympathy for the victim
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->On the face of it, nothing seemed out of order. It had been whispered earlier in Delhiâs social circles that Rahul was an MPhil (Cantab). At the time of his nomination, his sister Priyanka too had claimed to a television channel that Rahul was âhighly educatedâ. Yet, for those intent on nit-picking, there was something very peculiar about Rahulâs claims. How, it was asked, was Rahul awarded an MPhil when he did not list either a BA or a BSc among his qualifications? It was well known that Rahul had spent a year at St Stephenâs in Delhi. That is not time enough to write a BA examination. He had also spent some time in Harvard, where a BA takes four years to complete. If he had a Graduate degree from Harvard, it is not something he would have kept under wraps or omitted to mention.
<!--emo&:lol:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Cambridge apologized for the initial reply. The confusion, it seems, had taken place because Rahul had registered in Cambridge not as Rahul Gandhi but on the basis of what the registry in Cambridge said was his motherâs maiden name. This, they claimed, was done for âsecurity reasonsâ. It was a perfectly credible explanation since the British authorities invariably recommend the use of aliases for those who have reasons to be wary about their personal safety. Consequently, it was indeed possible that Rahul assumed the surname Maino for his yearâs stint in Cambridge.
The matter did not end here. When pressed for a final confirmation of the name, the authorities in Cambridge disclosed that the pseudonym was Rahul Vinci
The details of Rahulâs Cambridge degree and his pseudonym have been known to the Bharatiya Janata Party for the past fortnight. The party could well have used it for some low-level attack suggesting Rahulâs preference for Italian rather than Indian names. But it chose to overlook the whole issue on the ground that personal attacks of this nature yield no political returns and instead generate public sympathy for the victim
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