Congress MP Rahul Gandhi admitted on Tuesday that he may not have reached where he has and may have still been struggling as an ordinary Congress worker if he had not been the son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Mr Gandhi’s rather candid admission came at a 45-minute interaction with a cross-section of students from various academic institutions in Lucknow on Tuesday.
Mr Gandhi, while addressing the students, asked the youth to take up politics if they wanted to address their problems and bring about a visible change in the system.
Though the media was kept out of the interactive session, Mr Gandhi took several questions and gave a brief introduction about the new and transparent process of recruitment in the NSUI.
He underlined the advantages of election over nomination and said that the corruption during election was evident while that during nominations remained hidden.
To a question why China was far ahead of India when both of them had indeed gained independence around the same time, Mr Gandhi said that while China had invested in infrastructure, India was ahead in terms of civil liberties and democracy; hence the two could not be compared.
Responding to a question on the low standard of education and spiralling fees in states like UP and MP, Mr Gandhi retorted, “You people have chosen these governments.”
The Congress MP’s interaction with students was once again marred by slogan shouting outside the venue. Activists of Leftist groups raised slogans against inflation and corruption and held out banners.
As soon as the session came to an end and Mr Gandhi’s convoy made its way out, activists of All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Inqualabi Naujawan Sabha carrying banners started raising slogans but were promptly chased away by the police.
AISA incharge Sudhanshu Bajpai and state president of the Inqualabi Navjawan Sabha, Bal Mukund Dhuriya later told reporters that they were protesting against scams and inflation.
The protesters said that the need of the hour was to provide employment to the youth instead of staging “interaction dramas”.
On Monday, Mr Gandhi’s programmes in Varanasi and Allahabad had faced similar protests.
Mr Gandhi is currently on a five-city visit in Uttar Pradesh as a part of NSUI’s “Talash” campaign that is searching for young leadership. From Lucknow, Mr Gandhi proceeded to Jhansi where representatives of the Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha threw leaflets at his convoy, asking him to fulfill his promise of a separate Bundelkhand. He ended his two-day visit with an interaction with students in Agra.