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Politics of alienating communities disrupts dreams: Rahul
In a veiled criticism of Bharatiya Janata Party's policies, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said politics of alienating communities affects growth and the Congress stood for inclusive growth even as he sidestepped questions of his becoming prime minister.
India had witnessed faster economic growth under the United Progressive Alliance because it had greatly lowered tensions among communities and fostered harmony, the Congress vice president said.
"When you play the politics of alienating communities, you stop the movement of people and ideas. When that happens we all suffer. Businesses suffer and the seeds of disharmony are sown and the dreams of our people are severely disrupted," he said, adding that this damage takes a very long time to reverse.
"It is very dangerous to leave people behind. Inclusive growth is a win-win for everybody," Rahul said addressing the annual general meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi.
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'Anger, hatred and prejudice did not contribute to growth'
Likening India to a movement where a billion people were trying to break the shackles, he said there was a need to use the energy and ideas generated by this exercise to help everybody.
"There are two ways this movement can go. It can go harmoniously or it can go disruptively. The idea of the Congress party is that it should go harmoniously and everybody should move together and happily," he said. Anger, hatred and prejudice did not contribute to growth, he added.
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'Being PM, getting married irrelevant'
Sidestepping questions on becoming prime minister, he said all this talk was "irrelevant".
"I got press guys asking when you are getting married. Somebody else saying, boss, when are you going to be the prime minister. Somebody saying, no your are not going to be PM, somebody say may be you will be PM. There is good possibility
"These are irrelevant questions. It's all smoke," he said.
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'Manmohan Singhji can't solve everything'
Cautioning on the dangers of centralisation of power, Rahul said, "If you expect Manmohan Singhji or anyone else to solve everything, you can keep expecting."
The Gandhi scion said it was an "accident of faith" that he happened to be in the position. "It is an accident of faith. I happen to come from a chain of persons. I have been put in a situation.... Boss you have to do it."
He said it was unrealistic to expect that he or any other leader can "fix India". "Don't give power to one person, give it to a billion."
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'Don't give power to one person, give it to a billion'
India is the largest pool of human capital people have ever known and probably would ever know, Rahul said.
"It was this movement of people...this tremendous movement of people and ideas that is going to define this country in the 21st century," he said.
"Democracy and technology have triggered a non-reversible chain reaction in India. This reaction is unstoppable, nobody can stop it," he said.
The Congress vice president also sought the help of the industry to build infrastructure. "It is our duty to provide India with a physical infrastructure to enable this unprecedented movement of people and ideas," he said.
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