Rahul Gandhi stresses for the need to respect knowledge

In his first remarks as the newly elected vice president of the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi offered a searing critique of the nation’s poor governance setup. Rahul Gandhi said power in India is “grossly centralized,” with decisions made “by a handful of people behind closed doors who are not fully accountable.”

Too often, said the newly appointed Congress Vice President, state chief ministers and central government ministries make decisions that local officials should be making. “We only empower people at the top of the system,” Rahul Gandhi said. “We don’t believe in empowering people all the way to the bottom.” He also took aim at the leaders India taps, arguing that the best informed people aren’t always those who wind up in powerful positions.

“Every single day I meet people who have tremendous understanding, deep insight and no voice,” he said. “And then I meet people holding high positions with tremendous voice but no understanding for the issues at hand.” He added:  “We don’t respect knowledge. We respect position.”

 “All our public systems” he said, including administration, justice and education, “are designed to keep people with knowledge out. They are closed systems. They are designed to promote mediocrity”, continued the Congress leader. “The answer is not to run these systems better,” Mr. Gandhi said. “We have to rethink these systems and transform them completely,” he added.

Rahul Gandhi also took a dig at political double-speak mainly by the opponents and said, “People who are corrupt stand up and talk about eradicating corruption,” he said, “and then people who disrespect women everyday…talk about women’s rights.” “There is a young and impatient India and it is demanding a voice in the nation’s future,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi also listed some of the accomplishments of the Congress-led government, including the Right to Information Act that he said has empowered Indians to hold public officials accountable for corruption, and its flagship welfare initiative, the rural job guarantee program. Rahul said a planned food security bill “will ensure that no mother sees her child go hungry at night.”