Rahul Gandhi: I am sensitive to poverty, but to fully understand it one has to be poor

Camp:Bangalore,Karnataka

Date: March 29, 2008

Rahul Gandhi: I am sensitive to poverty, but to fully understand it one has to be poor



Addressing a press conference before returning to Delhi, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi faced a volley of questions from the press that ranged from the loan waiver to his marriage plans.


Summing up his 5 day Karnataka tour Rahul Gandhi said, "In the last few days, I spoke to a lot of people about their lives and their difficulties. The central idea of politics is to have conversations and I value the contact I have."



On the issue of loan waiver he said "We are a country of a billion people. We are a country of a large number of poor people. We are growing very fast, but we need to take the poor people along." He said the loan waiver was a step in that direction. Calling it a very powerful move, Rahul Gandhi thanked the Prime Minister for having taken such a decision.




Referring to opposition that the decision of loan waiver had met, Rahul Gandhi said that many had questioned if this move was viable. "When poor farmers get a loan waiver, why do we say it is not economically viable? We don't say the same in case of industrialization. Why this silence. Start viewing poor people with the same frame. Be fair!"



"I am not a poor person, I will never understand poverty the way poor people do. It will be very arrogant of me to think that I understand poverty. I'm sensitive to poverty. I try and understand poverty. But to fully understand poverty, you have to face poverty."



Speaking on the issue of inner party democracy Rahul Gandhi said, "I am asking certain fundamental questions. In India we have democracy but no democracy within parties."



Throughout his Orissa and Karnataka tour Rahul Gandhi has been asking young people to take up leadership and join politics. When asked as to how he will facilitate young people to enter politics, he said "there is a systemic problem. No one tracks their members." Pointing to the real issue of not being in touch with party members and thus not being able to evaluate their performance, he said,

"The systemic answer to it is that there should be a performance based evaluation and the doors should be open to the young people."



Adding to this he said, "It's important that more and more young people are given responsibilities and are involved in politics. The more young people, the better it is!"



When asked if there should be a retirement age for politicians Rahul Gandhi said that young politicians bring with them energy, while the older one's, experience. Ideally there should be a convergence of the two in politics.



Rahul Gandhi on several occasions has pointed out that lack of development is due to a collapse of delivery systems. Answering a question on how to better the mechanism he said, "When you have governments that are fighting among themselves, which Karnataka till recently was facing, it is bound to result in poor service delivery."



One of the reporters present asked him about his recent interaction with leader of the opposition Mr. LK Advani at an airport. Reportedly Mr. Advani had expressed his views on the emerging importance of regional parties. Rahul Gandhi said, "Mr. Advani had his views…it was a private conversation and I respect that and will not discuss it with the press."



Dodging a question on his marriage plans, Rahul Gandhi said it was a personal decision. But he indulged the press by answering a question on how women find him extremely charming.

Amidst peals of laughter from all present he said, "It's the most difficult question. I appreciate that women think I am charming.'

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