AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that becoming Prime Minister was not the only job in the world. “If I will become Prime Minister of India... as if that is the only job a person can do. There are many other jobs that a person can do,” Mr Gandhi said while answering a question by a student at Santiniketan. He spent over an hour interacting with over 1,000 students at Visvabharati, and replied to many of their queries.
He was asked how he would solve the country’s problems if he became Prime Minister. Trying to avoid a direct answer, he said becoming Prime Minister should not be anyone’s sole aim in life. “One can serve the country in many ways,” he said. The 40-year-old Mr Gandhi, who is widely projected as a future Prime Minister, looked a little uncomfortable at the question.
But he deftly fielded other queries — on the education system, corruption in India and even the Kashmir problem. From Visvabharati, Mr Gandhi flew by helicopter to Basirhat in North 24-Parganas, where he attended a workers’ conference, and then to Kolkata, where he wrapped up the day’s programme with an interaction with young Muslims in the city’s Garden Reach locality. Mr Gandhi began a three-day visit to West Bengal on Tuesday.
Three generations of Mr Gandhi’s family — former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi — have been chancellors of Visvabharati, the university founded by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore around 200 km from Kolkata. Indira Gandhi had even briefly studied at Santiniketan.
When some students told him about the problems faced by fine arts students at the university, Mr Gandhi said: “You can write to me or to the PMO with your suggestions on how to strengthen fine arts studies.”
When another student raised the issue of corruption at the university, Mr Gandhi replied: “Corruption is a problem everywhere. You have to find a solution to it.”
To another question, Mr Gandhi said he could give the students a lot of work if they wished it. “If you tell me you want to work, I will tell you when to do it and how to do it. Only writing letters to leaders will not do,” he said.