DESARAJU SURYA
Vijayawada: Rahul Gandhi is on a mission. He is going round the country to tap young talent for politics. He is trying to create leaders from among the people and the first step in this direction is his interaction with students of various educational institutions across the country.
Rahul is prodding students to join politics, set a new trend and clean up the system.
Given his lineage, and the kind of frenzy in the Congress party, it is but natural that people strongly feel Rahul will become the Prime Minister of India one day, like his father.
But Rahul himself seem to dislike being portrayed as the Prime Minister-in-waiting.
"Please don't consider me as the future Prime Minister. Nobody can predict the future and what lies in store. Anybody can become the Prime Minister," he said during an interaction with over 1500 students at the Loyola College.
Rahul said the current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was doing a good job.
It was a freewheeling 90-minute-long interaction session where Rahul spoke elaborately on every issue raised. He was a very composed and lent a keen ear to what all his audience said. He expressed his opinion on different issues in a fair manner.
More than two decades after his father and late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi lamented that only 15 paise out of each rupee earmarked for welfare actually reached the targeted beneficiaries, Rahul Gandhi has regretted that the same scenario prevailed even now.
“What my father said long ago is still true. Only 15 paise out of every rupee is reaching the targeted people. Hence, the continuing divide between the rich and the poor in the country,” Rahul said.
When a student asked Rahul why the rich became richer and the poor became poorer, he replied this was a glaring anomaly that needs to be rectified. “Your late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy took some steps to correct this trend but still a lot more needs to be done,” the Amethi MP noted.
Asked whether he had a vision for the middle-class people, Rahul again referred to the schemes launched by Rajasekhara Reddy for the betterment of this section of the society. “Rajasekhara Reddy was an exceptional leader who initiated many schemes to improve the lot of middle-class people. Tell me, what was the average life span of Indians in 1947 and what is it now? Isn’t it better now? It was only because of something has been done over the years,” he remarked.
Rahul said there was nothing called “brain drain” in his perspective. “There is nothing wrong if Indians go abroad to learn something. If we create better opportunities here, they will come back,” he noted.
When a student referred to the recent spate of attacks on Indian students in Australia, the young MP observed: “We are not weak-minded people. Can’t we face them?”
When a student pointed out that merit was losing out because of the system of reservations, Rahul conducted a voting among the participants on whether or not they were in favour of reservations. An overwhelming number of students raised their hands against reservations while only a handful gave their thumbs up. When two girl students argued for and against the system of reservations, Rahul remarked: “These (perceptions on reservations) are symptoms of a big disease. We need to cure the disease first.”
When the issue of global warming was raised by a student, Rahul said awareness needs to be created against the use of plastics and polythene that became a threat to ecology.
Rahul told the students that the purpose of his interaction with them was to make them feel responsible to the country. “I want to fill politics with young side and help improve politics. So far, politics has remained for the relatives of politicians. I want to change that,” he said.
“Also, I want to inculcate in students the habit of asking questions,” he added.
Rahul pointed out that judiciary in the country was “too slow” and said it has to “improve.”
Replying to a question on why no action was being taken against people speaking against the country and the Vandemataram, Rahul Gandhi referred to the case of his father’s assassination trial and the long-drawn process of justice administration.
“We have a system of judiciary which is too slow. Take my personal case. My father was assassinated. You all know how many years it took for its trial,” Rahul pointed out and stressed the need for improving the justice administration process.
Replying specifically to the question, Rahul said: “Ours is not a dictatorship and everything is dealt with in accordance with the law.”
Rahul himself posed a question to the 1500-odd students: “What will be the biggest challenge that India faces in the next 30 years?”
“Politics and corruption,” one girl student replied. “Poverty,” said a boy.
Elimination of corruption was the biggest challenge, many students noted.
Vijayawada: Rahul Gandhi is on a mission. He is going round the country to tap young talent for politics. He is trying to create leaders from among the people and the first step in this direction is his interaction with students of various educational institutions across the country.
Rahul is prodding students to join politics, set a new trend and clean up the system.
Given his lineage, and the kind of frenzy in the Congress party, it is but natural that people strongly feel Rahul will become the Prime Minister of India one day, like his father.
But Rahul himself seem to dislike being portrayed as the Prime Minister-in-waiting.
"Please don't consider me as the future Prime Minister. Nobody can predict the future and what lies in store. Anybody can become the Prime Minister," he said during an interaction with over 1500 students at the Loyola College.
Rahul said the current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was doing a good job.
It was a freewheeling 90-minute-long interaction session where Rahul spoke elaborately on every issue raised. He was a very composed and lent a keen ear to what all his audience said. He expressed his opinion on different issues in a fair manner.
More than two decades after his father and late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi lamented that only 15 paise out of each rupee earmarked for welfare actually reached the targeted beneficiaries, Rahul Gandhi has regretted that the same scenario prevailed even now.
“What my father said long ago is still true. Only 15 paise out of every rupee is reaching the targeted people. Hence, the continuing divide between the rich and the poor in the country,” Rahul said.
When a student asked Rahul why the rich became richer and the poor became poorer, he replied this was a glaring anomaly that needs to be rectified. “Your late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy took some steps to correct this trend but still a lot more needs to be done,” the Amethi MP noted.
Asked whether he had a vision for the middle-class people, Rahul again referred to the schemes launched by Rajasekhara Reddy for the betterment of this section of the society. “Rajasekhara Reddy was an exceptional leader who initiated many schemes to improve the lot of middle-class people. Tell me, what was the average life span of Indians in 1947 and what is it now? Isn’t it better now? It was only because of something has been done over the years,” he remarked.
Rahul said there was nothing called “brain drain” in his perspective. “There is nothing wrong if Indians go abroad to learn something. If we create better opportunities here, they will come back,” he noted.
When a student referred to the recent spate of attacks on Indian students in Australia, the young MP observed: “We are not weak-minded people. Can’t we face them?”
When a student pointed out that merit was losing out because of the system of reservations, Rahul conducted a voting among the participants on whether or not they were in favour of reservations. An overwhelming number of students raised their hands against reservations while only a handful gave their thumbs up. When two girl students argued for and against the system of reservations, Rahul remarked: “These (perceptions on reservations) are symptoms of a big disease. We need to cure the disease first.”
When the issue of global warming was raised by a student, Rahul said awareness needs to be created against the use of plastics and polythene that became a threat to ecology.
Rahul told the students that the purpose of his interaction with them was to make them feel responsible to the country. “I want to fill politics with young side and help improve politics. So far, politics has remained for the relatives of politicians. I want to change that,” he said.
“Also, I want to inculcate in students the habit of asking questions,” he added.
Rahul pointed out that judiciary in the country was “too slow” and said it has to “improve.”
Replying to a question on why no action was being taken against people speaking against the country and the Vandemataram, Rahul Gandhi referred to the case of his father’s assassination trial and the long-drawn process of justice administration.
“We have a system of judiciary which is too slow. Take my personal case. My father was assassinated. You all know how many years it took for its trial,” Rahul pointed out and stressed the need for improving the justice administration process.
Replying specifically to the question, Rahul said: “Ours is not a dictatorship and everything is dealt with in accordance with the law.”
Rahul himself posed a question to the 1500-odd students: “What will be the biggest challenge that India faces in the next 30 years?”
“Politics and corruption,” one girl student replied. “Poverty,” said a boy.
Elimination of corruption was the biggest challenge, many students noted.
