Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said Monday that unlike “some big leaders” he wasn’t obsessed with the idea of becoming Prime Minister.
“My obsession is to change Uttar Pradesh. What I’ve seen here is criminal, and we won’t tolerate it any more. People have been fooled 22 years with governments that bring ‘kabhi goonda, kabhi chor’. The time I spent in UP has been a huge learning experience... I won’t budge till this state begins to change itself,” he said at a press conference in Varanasi.
Handling questions with ease, he said he was confident the Congress would define UP’s politics, and the party will get solid results. “But elections come and go... I am not bothered about results. I am here for change.” When asked if this meant conceding defeat, Mr Gandhi shot back: “That means conceding victory because people are looking towards us.”
Mr Gandhi said his own power was “zero”; the real power lay with the people. “Leaders should be like transmitters, but some leaders think they have all the power in them, and stop listening to people.”
Attacking senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, he said during his yatras he doesn’t listen to people, but tries to convince them on his own views. He said while Mr Advani and others laughed at his idea of a constitutional body for the Lokpal, “it will definitely happen one day”.
Attacking both Ms Maya-wati and Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mr Gandhi said while he respected both leaders, unfortunately they had both stopped connecting with people. “I never made any personal attacks on them, but they should connect with the ground realities in their state,” he said, adding that UP was slowing down the nation’s growth as it was the biggest state. “India is paying the price (for) what is happening here... we won’t allow it any more.”
Mr Gandhi said when he had referred to technology czar Sam Pitroda’s caste (Vishwakarma) at a rally, he wanted to give a message of hope to the community. “I wanted to tell them a man from their community had fundamentally transformed India. If he could do it, they can do it too.”