Rahul Gandhi on Monday called himself a “symptom” of the ills of Indian politics — dynasty, patronage, money — even as his stance on OBC quota in Central educational institutions as also safety of women in Delhi betrayed his unease with the functioning of two family loyalists, Union Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.In an interaction with girl students at a resort adjoining Jim Corbett National Park here, he termed politics as a “closed system” and said, “If I had not come from my family, I wouldn’t be here. You can enter the system either through family or friends or money. Without family, friends or money, you cannot enter the system. My father was in politics. My grandmother and great grandfather were in politics. So, it was easy for me to enter politics. This is a problem. I am a symptom of this problem. I want to change it,” said the AICC general secretary referring to his decision to introduce internal democracy and elections in the Indian Youth Congress and the NSUI.Asked by a girl whether Delhi is safe for girls aspiring to go there for studies, particularly in the wake of Delhi Chief Minister’s controversial remarks about safety of women in the Capital after Soumya murder case, Gandhi said, “Generally, Delhi appears to be a safe place. But on the outskirts, women do face problems in buses.” Asked about the steps being taken by the Congress regime in Delhi in this connection, he said he did not know anything specifically about it. He was non-committal on the issue of OBC quota despite persistent queries by another girl who questioned the rationale for all kinds of reservation, including for women in Parliament and for different caste groups in the education sector, and sought to know from the Amethi MP why general candidates should not be taken against vacant OBC seats and why merit should not be the main criteria. Gandhi refrained from backing the HRD Minister and remained evasive on all these specific questions. As the girl refused to relent and kept on asking the same queries, he said, “I want to take this discussion further. I am not going into general or non-general or OBC categories. Your question should be why there should not be 10 lakh colleges. I ask this question daily. Focus should be on increasing the number of seats, institutions and quality— nobody discusses it,” he said. Quoting his father’s famous remarks about only 10 per cent of the money earmarked for different programmes reaching on the ground, he cited the cases of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh as examples and appreciated the performance of Andhra Pradesh. Asked for his explanation for such a state of affairs in Bihar and UP, he said, “Because people are divided in Bihar and UP. They fight against one another. There is tension related to caste and religion.” He, however, added that there were many other states where the respective governments were not working. Responding to a query about the anti-North Indian campaign launched by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Gandhi said, “There are two kinds or politics—one that brings people together and another that divides them. People get political benefits.”Asked about Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s allegation that he takes a bath after “working with labourers” (her remarks were actually in the context of his stay at a Dalit’s house), Gandhi said, “What do you think? Do you think I can do it? In politics and in life, answers come only though time. Time will tell what I am like.”
