Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in India, claimed during a press conference in Washington DC that Indian democracy has been broken for the past decade but is now fighting back. He cited instances of alleged manipulation in state governments and frozen bank accounts during elections as examples of democratic erosion. Despite recent election results offering some hope, Gandhi emphasized that a resilient voter base alone isn't enough to ensure fair democracy without a level playing field for all political parties.
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#RahulGandhi #OppositioninIndia #WashingtonDC #RahulGandhinews #Gandhilive #Congress #Oneindia #Oneindianews
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00:00elections with more than 60 nations that have headed to the polls or are heading to the polls.
00:07Among these, India held the largest election in history from April to June with 950 million voters
00:14who participated over seven phases to elect their new government. Our distinguished guest today,
00:21Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition in India's parliament, is no stranger to this stage
00:26as this is his second time addressing the National Press Club. When he joined us in June 2023,
00:32he had been disqualified from the Indian parliament, a decision that was
00:35later overturned by the Supreme Court ruling in August of that year. In this year's historic
00:40elections, Mr. Gandhi was re-elected to his seat in Wayanad in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
00:46Rai Bareilly, not Wayanad. No, but you did win from Wayanad and also won in Rai Bareilly,
00:51located in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. As the leader of the opposition in India's
00:56parliament, Mr. Gandhi heads the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance, a coalition of
01:01opposition parties that holds 234 seats, just 30 short of a majority. He's a vocal critic of Indian
01:07Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr. Gandhi entered politics in 2004 and has been a key figure in
01:13India's political landscape. Today he joins us to share his thoughts on the future of Indian
01:17democracy, freedom of speech, and pathways toward sustainable and inclusive growth. Please join me
01:23in giving a warm National Press Club welcome to Mr. Rahul Gandhi. So, Mr. Gandhi, there has been
01:37a noticeable shift in public perception of you from being seen as a reluctant politician, if I
01:44may, to someone who can confidently handle political debates and navigate complex political
01:49issues. With the resurgence of Congress in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a more
01:55open approach to working with regional parties, how do you view your personal and political
02:00transformation and what factors have contributed to this change? No, I wouldn't call it
02:07I wouldn't call it a transformation. A journey? Yeah, a journey. I think politics in India changed
02:21very dramatically in 2014. We entered a phase of politics that we haven't seen in India before.
02:30Aggressive, attacking the foundations of our democratic structure and so it's a tough fight.
02:44It's been a good fight and personally, of course, it has changed me. I wouldn't have ever imagined
02:54in before 2014, if you had come to me and said, look, you walk across from
03:00Kanyakumari to Kashmir, I would have just laughed at you and I would have said, you know, that's
03:04ridiculous. But that was the only way left for the opposition in our country. Media was suppressed,
03:14institutions were controlled, agencies were attacking the opposition, governments were being
03:18overthrown and we found that literally the only way was to go directly to the people of India and
03:27that certainly changed me in fundamental ways. Right, so you've done two marches across India,
03:33one was the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the other one was the Nyaya Yatra? No, one march. One march,
03:41one was on foot and the other was by car. So one went from South India all the way to Kashmir,
03:50that was by foot, that was 4,000 kilometers and the other one was from Manipur, which as you know,
03:56is burning, to Maharashtra. Right, you've already sort of answered this but I still want to ask,
04:02what inspired you to take these journeys? Well, I mean, at one level,
04:13we were forced politically to take, because all the instruments that normally work in a democracy,
04:20they just were not working and you know, the media was not working, the courts were not working,
04:27nothing was working and so we said, okay, let's go direct and we went and it worked,
04:33it worked beautifully. That was at the political level and at my work level but as a,
04:42at the individual private level, I always wanted to do it. I always wanted, since I was small,
04:47since I was young, I always had this idea that I must, at some point in my life,
04:52walk across my country and see what it's about. Well, what an experience and what a
04:59marvelous thing to do. So as leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, how do you perceive
05:06your role evolving compared to your previous responsibilities and what new challenges or
05:11opportunities do you foresee in this position? I mean, it's an extension of what I did earlier.
05:19There's an ideological war taking place in India between
05:25the Congress and our partners and the BJP and the RSS. They are two completely different
05:31visions of India. We believe in a plural vision, a vision where everybody has a right
05:39to thrive. All imaginations are free to roam in India where you're not persecuted because of what
05:47religion you believe in or what community you come from or which language you speak
05:51versus a much harsher centralizing vision. So that's the landscape and then we fight on that
06:04landscape, defend India's institutions, defend the weaker sections in India, defend the lower
06:13castes, defend the tribals, minorities, defend poor people. And after the yatra, I feel,
06:26try to become the voice of as many people as you can. So for that you have to go and
06:36understand what's going on. You have to go deeper, deep into sort of the agricultural
06:43world, the conflicts that are taking place there, into the financial system, into the tax system.
06:49So you have to, in a sense, go deep into it, talk to people and then understand deeply what
06:56they're saying and then transmit it. And at a broader level, provide a vision, India alliance
07:08vision for the country which is obviously going to be fundamentally different than the centralizing,
07:13you know, monopolized vision that the BJP is presenting. Okay, so you touched upon a couple
07:20of points. You just mentioned finance and the tax system. You spoke this morning that 17
07:26secretaries take all financial decisions to run the country. No, 70. 70, okay. I'm sorry, 70.
07:35Apparently, only three of them are Dalits and only one is a member of the minority.
07:41Now, all of them are… Well, you've got the numbers wrong, but… Okay, this is for the audience.
07:46Let's put it that 90% of India is either tribal, lower caste,
07:57or Dalit, right, and or minority. And their participation in the governance of the country,
08:03in the various institutions of the country, in the media of the country is lacking. And so,
08:09what we propose is a survey to make transparent the reality of how power is shared in India.
08:17The caste census. The caste census. Okay. But just to stay on the same topic,
08:24all the secretaries are from the administrative service, correct? Now, the U.S. Treasury has
08:31economists, the U.K. Treasury recruits people separately with expertise in economic policy
08:37making. But the Indian finance ministry is the domain of IAS officers, of which very few
08:42understand finance. Will you professionalize the finance ministry, liberate it from IAS officers
08:49who criticize it and appoint a Dalit scholar like B. R. Ambedkar as finance secretary? No, I think
08:54that, look, the problem is much broader than that, okay? The problem is about participation
09:08of weaker sections of lower caste, in particular Dalits, across the board, right? So, I'll shock
09:15you by saying that if you were to look at the top 200 corporates in India, and you were to look at
09:22their management teams, and you were to look at their CEOs, you wouldn't find anybody from the
09:28lower caste, right? You'd find only people from the upper caste. Same with the Indian media. If
09:34you look at media, you'd find that it's the preserve of upper caste. You look at the influencers
09:42on social media, you look at the big columnists, you look at the people who control the media
09:49infrastructure, again, it's the same issue, right? So, there is a very small percentage of India,
09:55which is controlling the entire infrastructure. What you're proposing doesn't actually solve that
10:01problem. No, I'm not proposing, I'm just asking. Yeah, what you're asking doesn't actually solve
10:04that problem. That problem is a much broader problem and it's the first step in understanding
10:08the problem is actually in understanding what the reality is. So, what is the participation
10:14of lower castes, of tribals, of Dalits in, for example, the corporate world? What is the
10:21participation in the media? What is the participation in our bureaucracy? The point I made about
10:27the secretaries is that if you look at the Indian government, 70 secretaries basically
10:33determine the direction of it, right? And I made this point again and again in the election
10:39that 90 percent of India doesn't have representation among those people. Okay, just as a
10:44follow-up, a lot of government posts are lying vacant and many government agencies are actually
10:52hiring people through contract and not as direct hires. Exactly. So, then how can you ensure?
10:58Well, we propose to change that. You propose to change that. So, in our manifesto, we're very clear
11:03that this idea of contractual labor, we don't accept it. We're going to change it.
11:11Right, and many agencies are doing that to also reduce their overhead because of
11:15government expenditure. Yes, but that's true.
11:19Some of that is happening, but a huge part of it is happening to basically exclude people from
11:25lower caste because when you look at who are the contractors, they're not lower caste people,
11:32right? So, the question for me and for the India Alliance is, is India fair? And we've been now
11:41independent for many years. How far have we got? We have a constitution that says,
11:47India needs to be a fair country, one man, one vote, equal participation, equal participation for
11:54all castes. As an idea, caste is outlawed and then when you look at the structure,
12:00the idea is very much there. So, the first thing we want to understand is what is the extent to
12:04this and that's literally getting data. It's the 21st century. Everybody talks about data. We want
12:12data on fairness in India and once we get data on fairness in India, then we can make policy
12:17proposals to correct it. Okay, so India's biggest problem is also unemployment. Yeah. Right, so what
12:24is your vision and especially what is your government doing, say in Karnataka, to create
12:28large-scale employment opportunities? So, I've been saying here in the United States that
12:36the West, America, Europe and India, the West used to be the producer of the world. If you
12:46wanted to buy a car in the 60s, you bought an American car. You know, you wanted to buy a
12:52washing machine, you wanted to buy a refrigerator, you bought an American refrigerator, you bought
12:55an American washing machine, American television. You guys were at the forefront of that, right?
13:01And then somewhere along the line, America decided, India decided and the West decided that
13:07we're just going to stop and we handed the whole thing to the Chinese. Now, for a country like
13:15India to simply say that, look, we are going to ignore manufacturing and we're only going to run
13:21a services economy, means you can't give employment to your people, right? So, one of the things I'm
13:27interested in is thinking about the act of production, also called manufacturing. Today,
13:38if you look at what most American companies do, look at what most Indian companies, most European
13:45countries do, they organize consumption. Uber organizes consumption. Organizing consumption is
13:53easy. Organizing production is a completely different ballgame, much more complicated.
13:59You have to deal with things when you organize production that you simply don't have to deal
14:03with when you organize consumption. So, to me, there's a huge opportunity for India and the
14:09United States to regain that ability to produce, right? And we don't want to do it like the Chinese
14:17are doing it. We don't want to do it in an environment which is non-democratic, which is not
14:21liberal. So, the real question for the 21st century, the Chinese have placed a production vision
14:27on the table. It's a non-democratic production vision. Can the United States and India
14:32answer that by placing a vision for production in a democratic, free society? And I think that's
14:39where a lot of answers lie. Now, to complete, we have a government in Karnataka. We have a
14:49government in Rangana. And what we're doing is there are multiple different areas. Each area in
14:58India has its own speciality of production, right? If you go to pretty much any district,
15:03Bellary in Karnataka has a very deep textile industry which has been destroyed. So, we are
15:13looking at these pockets of excellence and then trying to bring modern technology,
15:20financial support to build them. So, the vision would be more of a decentralized production system.
15:27Unlike China, which has huge factories, we would be thinking about smaller and small-medium
15:32businesses and embedding modern technology into that. We're testing some of these ideas in
15:38Karnataka and Telangana. Right. And then you'll roll it out to? That's generally how we operate.
15:44Okay. All right. So, while we touched upon India and the U.S., the India-U.S. nuclear deal,
15:51led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was a landmark step in India-U.S. bilateral relations.
15:58What do you see as the long-term prospects for India-U.S. relations, especially in terms of
16:04strategic partnerships? You've touched upon it a little bit, but if you could elaborate.
16:08So, there are two elements. The first is the defense cooperation, which is important.
16:17And I think we do a good job there. But then the second is what I touched on just now, which is
16:25China has placed in front of us a vision for production and prosperity in a non-democratic
16:33environment. What is our response? Are we simply going to just sit there and say, okay, China can
16:39be the producer of the world and we're not going to do anything? Or do we have a response? What is
16:45our response to the Belt and Road? Right? I don't see one. So, to me, that's really where U.S.
16:52and India cooperation needs to go. How can we provide a democratic vision of production of
16:58manufacturing that actually works to the rest of the world? And I think both countries bring
17:05different things to the table. And I think there's a huge opportunity there. Okay. So,
17:10just staying on India and U.S., is there a political consensus within India on deepening
17:14strategic ties with the U.S.? Yes. I mean, I don't see a big diversion.
17:21You know, I don't see Mr. Modi diverting very much from our approach with the U.S. and I don't
17:27see ourselves changing direction very much from what he's doing. So, I see continuity there.
17:34I don't, I think everybody on both sides of the equation, everybody does accept the fact that
17:41the India-U.S. relationship is key for both countries. Okay. One more on the U.S.
17:48With the backdrop of an increasingly assertive China, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict
17:53and the crisis in Gaza, how do you view the role of the United States in global affairs?
17:58I think you're a very powerful democracy. You believe in certain ideas on freedom,
18:17on democratic participation and I think that's important for the world. I don't like a world
18:25where democracy were to disappear, were to weaken. So, I think there you have a very important role
18:30to play but standing on this side, I see challenges coming that frankly you've not faced before
18:40and I don't think it's going to be that easy. The central question is
18:48how do you challenge China on production and value addition? Right? China's strength comes
19:03from that. Yes, China has a strong military but the military strength comes from that ability
19:10to produce. It comes from Americans buying Chinese product. It comes from Indians buying
19:18Chinese product and what are you going to do about it? Because we can't carry on this trajectory.
19:25Certainly, I can talk for India. We simply cannot go forward without building a manufacturing base,
19:33without involving large numbers of our people, you know, creating jobs for them. So, for us,
19:43it's, you know, we're not a Singapore where we can say, oh, you know, now we'll do services and
19:47everything would be fine. We can't do it. We have over a billion people and we have to give them an
19:55answer and that answer can only come from production. Okay.
20:02One on national security. With India facing complex security challenges, particularly along
20:09its external borders, with two hostile nuclear armed neighbors as seen in incidents like Galwan
20:16in 2020, what's your perspective on ensuring a comprehensive national security policy? How
20:22should India navigate this volatile geopolitical environment? And you've spoken about…
20:27Very carefully.
20:29You've spoken about the Ladakh…
20:31Without making too many mistakes. No, I think, look, the world is changing.
20:41There's a huge increase in China's power. China is our neighbor. We have a relationship with the
20:51United States. So, we are right in the middle of all this geopolitical change. And so, we have to
21:01have a long-term vision, strategic vision. And, you know, it shouldn't be one tactical move after
21:11another tactical move. It should be, okay, this is how we're thinking about it for the long term.
21:16This is the basic foundation and we're going to walk on this path. I think, the central elements
21:21of that, from our perspective, have to be the democratic idea. You know, have to be the central
21:29ideas that our freedom fighters and Mahatma Gandhi and others fought for, which is peace, non-violence,
21:41you know, cooperation, harmony.
21:46All right. But it's difficult to do with an aggressive neighbor.
21:50Yeah, but India's pretty smart at doing these type of things. I mean, we can maneuver. I'm
21:56confident about that. But it's important that, you know, to do this properly, you have to have
22:03a very good sense of who you are and what your own nature is. And that's where I don't agree with
22:12the current dispensation. You know, when you imagine yourself to be something you're not,
22:18that's when the problems come, right? India is a very plural country. India is an open country.
22:25India is not one idea. India is multiple ideas. And when you imagine yourself to be something
22:32you're not, that's when all your strategic problems start.
22:38I mean, we are weakening our biggest asset, right? Our biggest strategic asset,
22:45India's biggest strategic asset, which is our democracy, which is just not India's asset.
22:51It is the world's asset, because it's so big. It's a global public good.
22:55It's being attacked in India, right? And that is the foundation of all our strategic imperatives.
23:05Right. So you say, I mean, democracy is being attacked. And I've had this conversation with
23:09Mr. Pitroda, that the Indian voter is very resilient and very knowledgeable.
23:19It's not, and if you see the election results, does it give you more hope for democracy in India?
23:26Yeah, I mean, it does look, but it's not good enough to say that the Indian voter is resilient
23:33and knowledgeable, because the Indian voter is informed by a whole set of structures, right?
23:40So if we don't have a level playing field, the voter might be very knowledgeable and well,
23:46you know, and resilient. It doesn't really matter. We fought an election with our bank accounts
23:53frozen. Right? Now, I don't know. I mean, I don't know any democracy where that's happened.
23:58Maybe, you know, that type of thing happens in Syria or used to happen in Iraq. But we literally
24:06sat during our election and spoke to our treasurer and he says, well, we have no money. Right?
24:12Now you can have a resilient voter. You still need to run campaigns. You still need to have
24:17conversations. You still need to have meetings. Right? I've got 20 plus cases in me. I'm the
24:22only person in Indian history to get a prison sentence for defamation. Right? We have a chief
24:29minister who's in jail right now. So, I mean, one way of saying it is, yes, the Indian voter is very
24:34resilient and, you know, he stands like a rock. Absolutely, he does. But the Indian voter
24:40requires an architecture to work on, which is not there. But would you say that Indian
24:46democracy is resilient and can't be broken? Well, I can say to you that Indian democracy
24:51for the last 10 years was broken. But it's on an upward trajectory. It's fighting back,
24:57but it was broken. I have seen the government of Maharashtra just being taken away from us.
25:05So, I've seen it with my own eyes. I've watched it as our legislators have been bought in and
25:12hooked off and suddenly became BJP legislators. So, Indian democracy has been under attack,
25:18has been very badly weakened, and now it's fighting back. And I'm confident that it'll fight back.
25:27Okay. You know, US is scheduled for elections very, very soon.
25:35How do you think Trump and Harris will differ on India policy?
25:40And do you think one is better for India? I don't think they'll differ very much on
25:44India policy. You don't? I think there's, on both sides, there's basic acceptance of the
25:51relationship between these two countries. So, I don't think we'll differ very much from Mr. Modi
25:57on this issue. And I don't think the Democrats or the Republicans will differ very much. I might
26:04be completely wrong. Okay.
26:10Certainly, on the fundamental idea that India is a partner, I don't think there'll be any disagreement.
26:21Another one from the audience. Does the Congress party believe that the caste census is the
26:25antidote to the BJP-RSS Hindutva politics? And is the Congress acknowledging the way forward is a
26:31revival of the Mandal-Kamandal discourse? No, I don't think we see it as anything to do with
26:40the BJP's policies. The Congress party has always, right from even before independence,
26:46we've always fought for the idea that India should be a fair country. The idea that all
26:55India's citizens should be treated the same way. And so, we feel, we feel very strongly that
27:05there is a very, very deep problem of participation. And we're going to address that problem.
27:14I don't see it as a Mandal-versus-Kamandal issue. And what we're saying is
27:19different than the idea of only reservations. What we're saying is, we want a comprehensive
27:31understanding first of what's going on. And then we're going to apply a series of policies to
27:36correct it. Reservation being one of them. We also said that we're going to, somebody said,
27:42one of the, somebody misquoted me yesterday saying that I'm against reservations. I've been saying,
27:48again and again and again, we're going to increase reservations beyond 50%.
27:54But do you think they should be economic based?
27:58Our caste is a central issue in India. It's a fundamental issue in India. So,
28:05the question, look, I don't think the idea of untouchability exists anywhere else.
28:14Right? Untouchability is way beyond an economic idea. It is, you simply cannot be touched.
28:23Right? So, I don't think it's only an economic idea. I think it is, it's
28:30discrimination on many, many, many different axes.
28:35So, your grandmother, Indira Gandhi, was instrumental in the liberation of Bangladesh.
28:40And Mohan Singh government also had good relations with former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
28:47What's your perspective on the newly formed interim government in Bangladesh? And how do
28:51you see India's relationship with Bangladesh evolving? Do you think it should be party
28:55oriented or people oriented? I mean, we have a old relationship
29:04with the people of Bangladesh. And you're right. My grandmother was deeply involved
29:14with the creation of Bangladesh. I think there are concerns in India about
29:24extremist elements in Bangladesh. And we share some of those concerns. However,
29:31I'm confident that things will stabilize in Bangladesh. And that we would be able to have
29:37a relationship with the current government or any other government after that.
29:43So, in your meetings on Capitol Hill with lawmakers,
29:46was Bangladesh a focus of your discussions, particularly the attacks on minorities?
29:52We raised it. And they also spoke to us. Look, we are against any type of violence and we wanted
30:03to stop. And it's the responsibility, frankly, of the Bangladeshi government to stop it as soon
30:09as possible. And from our side, it's the responsibility of our government to put pressure
30:17so that that violence stops. Okay. Some observers say the U.S. should
30:23exert more pressure on Prime Minister Modi. But others say external pressure makes little
30:27difference. What is your view and what do you think the U.S. posture should be toward India
30:32today? Pressure on what?
30:34On Mr. Modi. About what?
30:40About whatever the criticisms are against him. What are they?
30:44You know better than me. No, I'm asking. What are the criticisms?
30:54It's interesting you can't say it. I don't want to say it.
30:57Yeah, it's interesting you don't want to say it.
31:00I mean, we're supposed to have a freewheeling, free press conversation,
31:04but you don't want to say it. That's interesting to me.
31:07Democratic backsliding, persecution of minorities.
31:11Yeah. Look.
31:13Freedom of press.
31:14The democratic, the fight for democracy in India is an Indian fight.
31:18It's, with all due respect, it's nothing to do with anybody else. It's our problem.
31:23And we'll take care of it. We'll fight and we will make sure that
31:32that democracy is secure.
31:34However, it's important to understand that Indian democracy is
31:40more than just any normal democracy because of its size.
31:45And if you're talking about a democratic vision of the world,
31:48then Indian democracy has a large space in that vision.
31:53So, I think it's important that the world sees Indian democracy as an asset
32:01not just for India, but for the rest of the world.
32:04Advising the United States on how they should deal with Mr. Modi is not my preserve.
32:09It's not my space.
32:11All right.
32:13We've...
32:16Yeah.
32:17Okay.
32:18So, how do you see relations with Pakistan?
32:21Is the Kashmir issue holding the two nuclear nations back?
32:25No.
32:26Pakistan's instigation of terrorism in our country is holding the two countries back.
32:32We're not going to accept Pakistan carrying out terror acts in our country.
32:38We're just not going to accept it.
32:39Okay.
32:40And until they keep doing that, there's going to be problems between us.
32:43Okay.
32:50All right.
32:51I have a question from the audience, and they've requested...
32:55Hindi.
32:57Okay.
32:59What is your stand on the Supreme Court judgment on sub-categorization of the SCST reservation?
33:05Experts say it is unconstitutional.
33:07I'll translate in English, just so that everybody understands.
33:13She asked me about a particular judgment given by the Supreme Court, and it's a relatively
33:21complex judgment.
33:23The Supreme Court has said that it is unconstitutional.
33:27The Supreme Court has said that it is unconstitutional.
33:31A particular judgment given by the Supreme Court, and it's a relatively complex judgment.
33:37So we have a group, internal group, that is discussing the judgment.
33:41And so I told her that that discussion is ongoing.
33:45We are discussing with experts within the Dalit community and also within our party
33:51and other parties.
33:53So that's an ongoing discussion.
33:55Sorry.
33:57So many questions.
34:07All right.
34:11Huh?
34:13I do.
34:15I'm not going to be able to get to all of them.
34:17But I did want to ask one.
34:19Minister Indira Gandhi is often seen as a defining figure in global women's political
34:23leadership, setting a precedent for a strong, decisive leadership at a time when few women
34:29held such roles, particularly in dealing with hostile neighbors.
34:33Given her legacy, how do you view the current state of women's leadership in global and
34:37Indian politics, and what lessons can be drawn from her approach in managing complex geopolitical
34:43challenges?
34:45I think women are better in positions of leadership than men.
34:49That's my position.
34:51I think they tend to be more sensitive, tend to have a longer-term perspective.
34:57And so the more women in politics, the more women in business, the better it is.
35:03And we've been pushing that along quite aggressively in the Congress Party and also in our political
35:11system.
35:13We did the entire Panchayati Raj Act, gave reservations to women.
35:17And then we're pushing the idea of reservations for women in Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha.
35:23So I'm a believer.
35:25I'm glad to hear it.
35:27India has been standing with Israel recently on the Middle East.
35:31This is from the audience.
35:33How would you change that?
35:35Look, I think what happened on the 7th of October was absolutely wrong.
35:43But I also think what Israel did and is doing, bombing innocent civilians, killing women
35:51and children, is absolutely wrong and should not be allowed to continue.
35:55I'm against violence of any kind, and certainly the scale of violence that Israel is deploying,
36:03the way it's deploying that violence, I don't agree with it.
36:07And I actually think it's harming Israel.
36:11It's harming Israel more than it's helping them.
36:15Do you think, Anjum Modi, that India has managed the U.S.-China competition well?
36:19Well, if you call having Chinese troops in 4,000 square kilometers of our territory handling
36:28something well, then maybe.
36:31We've got Chinese troops occupying land the size of Delhi in Ladakh.
36:36I think that's a disaster.
36:38Media doesn't like to write about it.
36:42How would America react if a neighbor occupied 4,000 square kilometers of your territory?
36:50Would any president be able to get away with saying that he's handled that well?
36:55So I don't think Mr. Modi's handled China well at all.
37:03I think there's no reason Chinese troops should be sitting in our territory.
37:12So before I move on to the final question,
37:18I did want to take a moment.
37:23I'm sorry.
37:25I have a lot of paper with me.
37:28All right.
37:31I wanted to take a moment just to thank our headliners, co-chairs,
37:36Donalyn Wen-Leje, Lori Russo, and Jed Judson,
37:40also our tireless program manager, Cecily Scott-Martin,
37:46and our executive director, Didi Asaji, for putting this event together.
37:52And it's now my honor to present you with your second National Press Club mug.
37:59So you have a matching set now.
38:03I've got two now.
38:04You've got a matching set, right?
38:07Okay.
38:09So...
38:11All right.
38:13So they say pilots have a distant vision.
38:16You know, they're sitting in one.
38:18They're navigating towards a distant destination, right?
38:24Now, your father, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi,
38:27had the foresight to introduce computers in India at a time
38:30when many doubted its relevance in a country grappling with poverty.
38:35Including, by the way, Mr. Vajpayee, the prime minister.
38:40Yet it became a transformative leap for the nation,
38:43and India today is an IT powerhouse
38:45and a leading provider of IT services to the world
38:48because of Rajiv Gandhi's foresight, right?
38:53So you also have a pilot's license, right?
38:56Yeah.
38:57Okay.
38:58As a trained pilot with a visionary outlook...
38:59I got it in the United States.
39:02As a trained pilot with a visionary outlook,
39:04what's your long-term vision for India's future?
39:07And what innovative steps do you believe could catapult India forward
39:12in a similar manner as your father did with the computer revolution?
39:17Well, I mean, I think it's more than what is my vision, right?
39:24I think what is the vision of the Indian people?
39:27I think that's more important,
39:29and understanding that and bringing that together is more important.
39:35I have my views, but I think what India wants
39:40and what India thinks is where a vision should come out of.
39:46I really see a huge opportunity for India
39:53in rethinking how we produce in the 21st century
40:00in a democratic environment.
40:05And that would then include AI, it would include robotics,
40:10it would include drones, it would include pretty much everything.
40:15In order to do that, you would also need to build the infrastructure to do that.
40:19So it would include a whole set of things
40:24that would make India, in a sense, an alternative producer,
40:32an alternative to the Chinese way of doing things.
40:35That's one aspect of it.
40:39The other aspect of it is the fairness.
40:43I think there's huge energy locked in inside India,
40:51inside the social structure of India, and it's hidden.
40:55So India needs to start respecting the skills of its people,
41:06the skills of ordinary Indians.
41:10And we need to build a system that empowers them
41:15and links them to the banking system,
41:18provides them the technology to thrive.
41:20I think that, for me, is important.
41:23And the idea of caste, the idea of unfairness,
41:26the idea that you have two business people
41:31who control the entire Indian business system.
41:36The fact that you have, Mr. Adani owns airports, ports,
41:43the agricultural system, silos, the defense industry, everything.
41:48This is causing a lot of damage to India's productivity.
41:53So thinking about these things and making India a fairer place.
41:58If you ask me how would you define success,
42:01if I could make India even slightly fairer,
42:05I would say I've been quite successful.
42:10And at another level, where I think we've been successful already,
42:18is fighting the idea of anger and hatred.
42:23The fact that our opposition, the RSS and the BJP,
42:32divide India, make one religion fight with another religion,
42:37spread hatred, spread anger, and providing an antidote to that.
42:41Introducing the word love into the conversation.
42:47Which we did in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, we did very successfully.
42:50I think that's a very powerful step.
42:54And so pushing that further, deepening that,
42:59ideas of respect, humility, affection for all religions,
43:05I think that is something that we're going to push.
43:11And it's worked.
43:13We can see, even the effect on our Prime Minister was phenomenal.
43:19We were fighting the election and we were putting pressure on him
43:24and we pulled out the constitution.
43:26We used to earlier say that he's attacking the institutions,
43:30he's attacking the courts, he's attacking the media space,
43:35and somehow it was not connecting.
43:40And then one day we pulled out the constitution.
43:42And in our speeches we started putting the constitution
43:45and then it just connected immediately.
43:48And we then realized that Indian people are not going to allow
43:53their constitution to be torn to pieces.
43:56And it was quite a beautiful thing because as we went forward in this election,
44:01suddenly we were watching the Prime Minister
44:04and we could see that the pressure was beginning to tell
44:08and then at some point he just said, you know, I'm non-biological.
44:12I talk directly to God.
44:15And so the illusion was broken in a sense.
44:20Here's a Prime Minister of a modern country in the 21st century
44:27telling people that I speak to God.
44:30I'm different than everybody else.
44:32You are biological people.
44:34I'm a non-biological person.
44:36And I have a direct link to God.
44:38And that for us came over.
44:40We knew that we had defeated the Prime Minister.
44:44And then the beautiful thing was the first thing he did
44:48when he walked into the Lok Sabha and he was sworn in,
44:53he took the constitution of India and he placed it in his head.
44:57So it was an interesting paradox.
44:59On one hand he's destroying the constitution,
45:01he's attacking the democratic structure,
45:03and then the Indian people have forced him to put it in his head.
45:06So that's India for you.
45:08That's Indian democracy for you.
45:11Well, Mr. Gandhi, it's been a pleasure.
45:14Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru spoke at the Press Club,
45:17late Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi,
45:20and you've spoken here twice.
45:22Yeah.