Congress Vice President, Rahul Gandhi gave an interview to hindi news channel Aaj Tak on April 12, 2014.
Some of the his key messages are:
1) Our ability to get results, our programs and our ability to establish direct contact with the people is better. BJP is only good in marketing.
2) There are two ideologies, we believe in empowering as many people as possible, we talk about decentralisation, we talk about giving people their right. They (BJP) believe in concentration of power, they want maximum power to be vested in one person.
3) If you look at the congress achievements, they would be instances of when the people have been empowered, this has been a trend since the freedom movement. During the freedom movement, people were empowered. During the green revolution and the telecom revolution people were empowered. And now, with the rights based paradigm, we have empowered the people. Our objective is that the country should be run by as many people as possible.
4) The poor in this country need a basic launch pad, the poor cannot sustain on roads. A poor man needs a minimum support base, that's why we repeatedly talk about basic rights, that's the reason we talk about right to food, right to employment. Once, the poor get a launch pad, they can progress.
4) We want a partnership to exist between the poor and the business class in this country, both must work together.
5) We have a two pronged approach and we have developed this to a great degree. If you examine statistics of number of roads built, power generation, water, the Congress has fared better than the NDA government.
6) We are talking about a manufacturing corridor from Delhi to Mumbai, Mumbai to Chennai, Chennai to Bangalore and from Delhi to Kolkata. We are building a manufacturing backbone. Roads, power, water, dedicated freight corridor, we are collaborating with Japan. Millions will find employment.
7) Today everything is 'Made in China'. We want to change that to 'Made in India' and we are doing that.
8) Corruption is a problem. But if we have to combat corruption, then we have to stop talking and start acting. How will that change happen? With institutional frameworks, not rhetoric. You read the BJP manifesto they say we will fight against the corruption but they don't specify their strategy, what will they do to act against corruption?
9) The biggest achievement in this direction, and I have contributed to it, has been the Right to Information Act.
10) you can ask any question, go to any office, write an RTI and ask questions. You can even go into the prime minister's office with the power of your pen. We have empowered people. Corruption has been exposed because of this. We brought the Lokpal bill.
11) Where does maximum corruption take place? In land deals, we brought the land acquisition bill. Earlier what used to happen is that thousands of acres, like it happens in Gujarat, used to be handed over to an individual with just one signature, now, that cannot happen. We have taken some major steps towards eradicating corruption and these are institutional steps.
12) Modi says I will make all the decisions. Today, hundreds of people are choosing candidates. he (Modi) says I will choose all the candidates. We say no, crore of people should have the power to decide, thats why we speak of the primaries system.
13) We have governed for10 years now. There is a debate about growth rate. We have delivered a high rate of growth. We have built roads, we have generated adequate power, we lifted 15 crore people above the poverty line.
14) If we are tolerant and work with everyone, I guarantee that in the next 5-6 years, we will leave China behind. But if we fight, a Hindu fights with a Muslim, rich fight with poor, if a Maharashtrian fights with a person from UP, then this growth that we are talking about will be stalled.
15) For me, the result will be to give power to the people. For the last10 years, we have been empowering people and will continue to do so in the next 10years as well.
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