Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar on Sunday mocked at state government ministers and officials undergoing a weekly training programme at the IIM, Lucknow, seeking to hone in their administrative skills by learning new trends in finance, business and economy.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav too did not lag behind and said the step has been taken a little late in the day.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, however, promptly dismissed the opposition leaders' remarks, saying the BJP is not ashamed of learning at any stage from anyone for the interest of the state.
On Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's suggestion, IIM Director Archana Shukla has been organising every Sunday for the last three weeks a refresher course titled 'Manthan' involving interaction of ministers and officials with various IIM's experts in the fields of finance, business and economy.
During interactions, being organised every Sunday since September 8, the ministers and officials have also been deliberating upon ways and means to apply the new concepts of finance and business to the state's administration.
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Chief Minister Adityanath himself attended the programme on Sunday along with his Cabinet colleagues and senior officials, including the state chief secretary.
Speaking before the third and final phase of Manthan programme, Adityanath said, "Those running the government can also be good students. This programme was a subject of curiosity as the common notion is that those occupying posts in government and administration are perfect, have all the knowledge about everything and are all powerful."
"This notion is not true," said Adityanath, adding one who believes he has all the knowledge about everything and is perfect and all powerful, tend to suffer decline.
"Maintaining government and administration as a symbol of credibility has always been challenging. And, to stand the test, programmes like Manthan are necessary," he said.
He added that the IIM director was earlier requested to prepare an useful programme, and 'Manthan' has born out of it.
The programme will continue for various departments, a statement from the chief minister's office said later.
UP Congress chief Raj Babbar, however, mocked at the programme saying though "gaining knowledge at any age is good", it also shows that the people's fate is in hand of "ardh-gyani mantrimandal".
"Gaining knowledge at any age is good. However, the fate of the people in the state is hanging in balance with 'ardh-gyaani' mantrimandal (council of ministers with little knowledge)," said Raj Babbar, alluding to an adage on little knowledge.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav too did not lag behind in talking a dig at the ministers and officials attending the IIM programme and said it's a little too late in the day.
"The people in the government are going to the IIM, when the government has completed half of its tenure," said Yadav.
"If they had to go to the IIM, they should have gone to it in the beginning (of their tenure) itself. Had they undergone a week-long course earlier, the two-and-half years of the state would have passed off well," added Yadav.
Reacting to opposition leaders' remarks, Sharma, who also holds the portfolio of Secondary Education and Higher Education, told PTI, "Learning is a tendency, and a person should try to learn like a student to emerge successful at every crossroad of life or doing a particular work in a better way."
A person, who does not continuously learn like a student, will never be able to reach his desired destination. Challenging the tendency to learn is job of 'alpagyataa' (people having little knowledge)."
"Even a teacher, who strives to learn like a student is known as a good teacher. The BJP is not ashamed of learning from anyone in the interest of the state," he added.
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