Texas: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who is currently in the United States, criticised the policies of the ruling BJP government on various aspects-- from unemployment to the hatred he alleged the government has dissolved in the country. During an interaction with students at the University of Texas in Dallas on Sunday, Gandhi said there is no shortage of skills in India and the country could compete with China if it starts aligning itself for production. "India, the US and other countries in the West are facing the problem of unemployment while China isn't as it is dominating global production," he said.
He also stressed the need to encourage vocational training to bridge the gap between the business system and the education system and flagged the "ideological capture" of the latter.
Gandhi is on a four-day unofficial trip to the US during which he will interact with the members of the Indian diaspora and youths with stops in Dallas, Texas and Washington DC. He also plans to meet lawmakers and senior officials of the US government during his visit to Washington DC beginning Monday. He arrived in Dallas on Saturday night and was welcomed by dozens of members of the Indian-American community led by senior Congress leader Sam Pitroda and president of Indian National Overseas Congress, USA, Mohinder Gilzian.
Many countries in the world don't have an employment problem: Gandhi
"The West has an employment problem. India has an employment problem... But many countries in the world don't have an employment problem. China certainly doesn't have an employment problem. Vietnam doesn't have an employment problem," Gandhi said. "If you look at the United States in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, they were the centre of global production. Anything that was made, (be it) cars, washing machines (or) TVs, all were made in the United States. Production moved from the United States. It went to Korea and it went to Japan. Eventually, it went to China. If you look today, China is dominating global production," he said.
The West, America, Europe and India have "given up on the idea of production" and they've handed it to China. "The act of production creates jobs. What we do, what the Americans do, what the West does, is we organise consumption... India has to think about production and organisation...". "It's not acceptable that India simply says, okay, manufacturing, what you call manufacturing or production is going to be the preserve of the Chinese. It's going to be the preserve of the Vietnamese. It's going to be the preserve of Bangladesh," Gandhi said.
India should encourage manufacturing: Rahul Gandhi
He underlined the need to encourage manufacturing. "Until we do that, we will face high levels of unemployment. And frankly, it's not sustainable. So, you're going to see that if we carry on down this path of forgetting about manufacturing, you're going to see massive social problems coming in India and in the United States and Europe. The polarisation of our politics is because of this..." he added.
According to the leader of the opposition, there is no shortage of skills in India. "Many people say that India has a problem with skills. I don't think India has a problem with skills. I think... India does not have respect for people who possess skills," he said. Gandhi said there is a need to link the education system with the business system through vocational training.
"Bridging that gap or linking these two systems, skills and education, through vocational training is fundamental. I think currently the huge problem with the education system is the ideological capture, where ideology is being fed through it...," he said.
He said he is convinced that India can take on China if it starts aligning itself for production and starts respecting skills. "I'm absolutely convinced of it. States like Tamil Nadu have already shown it. It's not that Indian states have not done it. Pune has shown it. Maharashtra has shown it. So, it is being done but it's not being done at the scale and with the coordination that it needs to be done," Gandhi added.
Love, respect & humility missing in Indian politics: Rahul Gandhi
Love, respect and humility are missing in Indian politics, Gandhi said. He also criticised the RSS for believing that India is "one idea". "RSS believes that India is one idea. We believe that India is a multiplicity of ideas," he said.
"Very much like the United States, we believe everybody should be allowed to participate. We believe that everybody should be allowed to dream, (and) everybody should be given space, regardless of their caste, language, religion, tradition, history,” he said. “This is the fight. The fight crystallised in the election when millions of people in India clearly understood that the Prime Minister of India was attacking the Constitution of India. Because what I am saying to you is the union of states, respect to languages, respect to religions, respect to traditions, respect to caste.
This is all in the Constitution,” Gandhi added.
In his address, Gandhi said his role was to inject values of love, respect and humility into Indian politics. “I think what is missing in our political systems and across parties is love, respect and humility. Love to all human beings, not necessarily only people of one religion, one community, one caste, one State, or to those who speak one language," he said.
"Respect to everybody who is trying to build an India, not just the most powerful, but the weakest and humility, not in others, but in oneself. I think that is how I see my own,” he added.
Making an indirect reference to the Lok Sabha results in which the BJP failed to get a majority on its own, Gandhi said, "The people were saying the BJP is attacking our tradition, attacking our language, etc. What they understood was that anybody who is attacking the Constitution of India is also attacking our religious tradition."
“We saw that immediately, within minutes of the election result, nobody in India was scared of the BJP, of the Prime Minister. These are huge achievements. These are huge achievements of the people of India who realised democracy, of the people of India who realised that we are not going to accept an attack on our Constitution. We're not going to accept an attack on our religion. We're not going to accept an attack on our States,” he said.
(With inputs from agency)
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