New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi came out with flying colours answering every question, also on his hugging of PM Modi in the Lok Sabha, in the question-answer session with the JNU students at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday. On how the citizens trust the political parties that hide their source of funding and indulge in corruption of spending huge amounts in the elections, prompt came his response that he was ready to bring the political parties under the RTI Act, but he was evasive when told all parties had collectively opposed RTI on them.
He said he would accept the proposal to bring parties under the RTI if judiciary, executive, media and corporate sector are also brought in it. “But by only bringing political parties which work for the people, we will be weakening the system,” he explained.” Both the Congress and the Modi govt, too, submitted in the SC that political parties should not be brought under RTI.
Claiming he was all for enhancing transparency, Rahul explained there are multiple ways of fighting corruption: “Lokpal is one of them, but this was not allowed by the government. We brought RTI but this was diluted. Demonetisation was the worst scandal. The biggest corruption happens in land. We passed Land Acquisition Act and Narendra Modi’s first attack was on this Act. He wants to give land to corporate. I was battered for taking a tough stand on the land Act. You know the leader who fights against corruption comes under greater attack. You check the media and will know who is being battered—me or Modi?”
He said the Modi government had weakened the legal framework required to fight against corruption by not appointing Lokpal and diluting the RTI Act. When asked about his feelings after he hugged Modi, he said: “Love is magic. Try this in your life. Do it in your class. Hug people who hate you. That’s what I did with Modi. He abuses my family. When I hugged him, I felt in his body — arre ye kya ho gaya, mujhe pyar kaise kisi ne dikha diya (What happened, how could anybody show love to me).”
The Gandhi scion, who won the hearts of the students at the very outset by asking them to call him Rahul, not sir, received exceptional applause throughout the interaction which was preceded by a musical tribute to soldiers and patriotism. He added paramilitary men killed in the line of duty will be granted the “martyrs” status if the Congress comes to power. Recalling this land belonged to Ashoka, Buddha and Gandhi, Rahul said: “That’s the philosophy the Congress follows.” On right-wing politics and hatred were rising in the world because of job crisis, he said: “Need is to understand there is a massive job crisis and start tackling it.”
