The last leg of Assembly elections is set to be concluded with Rajasthan and Telangana going to polls on 7 December. Ahead of that, the last ditch campaigning has reached fever pitch, with leaders of various political parties canvassing their best.
In a public meeting at Jaipur on 4 December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was attempting the same, and in the process, went wrong with facts.
CLAIM
Addressing the gathering, Modi said, “65 साल में इतनी सरकारें आकर के गई। दिल्ली में एक परिवार की 4-4 पीढ़ियों ने राज किया लेकिन राजस्थान में इतने सालों में सिर्फ 11 मेडिकल कॉलेज का निर्माण हुआ। वहीं वसुंधरा जी की सरकार ने सिर्फ़ 5 साल में राजस्थान में 11 मेडिकल कॉलेज का निर्माण किया | (Several governments came and went in 65 years. 4 generations of a single family stayed in power, but could only set up 11 medical colleges. While Vasundhara Ji, in just 5 years of her rule, set up 11 medical colleges.”)
In the video, PM Modi can be heard making the claims after 23 min 40 sec-mark.
TRUE OR FALSE
Well, false. The Quint looked up official data and found out that 7 medical colleges have been set up in the last 5 years. Moreover, 2 of these 7 colleges are still under construction.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
The Quint looked up the official education portal of the government of Rajasthan. The portal lists a total of 20 government medical colleges:
Medical Education Department, Jaipur; SMS Medical College, Jaipur; Madan Mohan Malviya Government Ayurved College, Udaipur; Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner; Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, Pratap Nagar, Jaipur; RNT. Medical College, Udaipur; Jhalawar Hospital & Medical College, Jhalawar; JLN Medical College, Ajmer; Government Medical College, Kota; Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Rajasthan Ayurved University, Jodhpur; Dr Sampurnanand Medical College, Jodhpur; RUHS College of Medical Science, Pratap Nagar, Jaipur; Government Dental College, Jaipur; Dungarpur Medical College; Pali Medical College; Bharatpur Medical College; Bhilwara Medical College; Churu Medical College; Barmer Medical College; Sikar Medical College
We went through the details of each listed college, by visiting their websites and/or speaking to the college authorities over phone.
We found out that 13 out of the 20 listed colleges, were established before the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government came in power. The details are as follows:
Sawai Man Singh Medical College, Jaipur - 1947
Madan Mohan Malviya Government Ayurved College, Udaipur - 1933
Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner - 1959
Rajasthan University of Health Sciences - 2005
Rabindranath Tagore Medical College, Udaipur - 1961
Jhalawar Medical College, Jhalawar - 2007
Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Ajmer - 1965
Government Medical College, Kota - 1992
Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Rajasthan Ayurved University, Jodhpur -2003
Dr Sampurnanand Medical College, Jodhpur -1965
RUHS College of Medical Science, Pratap Nagar, Jaipur - 2005
Government Dental College, Jaipur - The BDS course started in 2003
The Raje government, to its credit, has set up 7 medical colleges. Out of these, 5 colleges – Dungarpur Medical College, Pali Medical College, Bharatpur Medical College, Bhilwara Medical college and Churu Medical college – are currently running their first batch, which started in the month of August.
However, in case of Barmer Medical College and Sikar Medical College, the buildings are still under construction.
The Quint tried to reach out BJP officials in Rajasthan, but they were unavailable for comments. The story will be updated if and when they respond.
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