Rahul tip on leadership: ‘let others take the glory’

In an indication of how he is looking at his new role as the Congress party's vice-president, Rahul Gandhi Tuesday suggested that a leader is one who creates the environment and lets others take advantage while remaining in the background himself.

Echoing former US president John F Kennedy's famous remark, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country", Rahul also exhorted the youth to stop asking politicians what they can do and think about what, as citizens and the youth, they can do to help others.

Rahul was moderating a talk by Vinton G Cerf, vice-president and chief Internet evangelist for Google, on 'The future of Internet: 1.2 billion empowered Indians' at Jawahar Bhawan on Tuesday evening. It was part of a series of discussions organised by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies.

Referring to his discussion with Cerf earlier in the day, Rahul said the former had freed the movement of data. "This is a very good guide of leadership.

Somebody creates the environment and lets others take the advantage. You sit quietly and watch and let others take the glory," said Rahul.

His remarks came in the backdrop of his persistent refusal to assume any role in the government and his insistence on strengthening the organisation by roping in the young generation into politics.

While Rahul was engaged in an intense discussion with Cerf on how a university could become exclusivist, as a Harvard or an Oxford can cater to a selected few but cannot go to millions of other students, and about the implications of internet on the future of universities, a student from the audience asked how he (Rahul) could help given reports about Class VIII children not being able to read or write properly.

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