President of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda reacts on PM Modi's recent America Visit. He said the trip was really about America telling India what they want. On China he said that I don't know what the threat from China is." On Shashi Tharoor, Pitroda said that is because many leaders don't mean what they say. On Delhi stampede he said that I wish we could spend a lot more on investments in improving railway safety."
#pmmodi #usa #america #iocc #sampitroda #china #stampede #congress
#pmmodi #usa #america #iocc #sampitroda #china #stampede #congress
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00:00From my perspective, if I had to advise the Prime Minister, I would have advised to wait
00:13for a while because things are still in a state of flux in America. Every day there
00:21is something new. Every day there are issues on tariff with Mexico, China, Canada, which
00:31are big partners compared to us. There are issues on hiring and firing, not hiring but
00:40firing lots of people in America. Government going after immigration, Ukraine war, Gaza
00:54and Israel issues. So, there was really no need to rush according to me. It would have
01:01been better for India to let things settle down with Trump administration. By then we
01:10would have had a better understanding of President Trump's tariff approach. Because as you saw,
01:22one day there was a tariff on Canada and Mexico and after a few days it was taken back, extended.
01:33So, I think government here is still in transition.
01:39And we don't gain much by really expediting the trip when government is not settled yet.
01:49But I am sure there was a need for photo ops, there was a need for cosmetics and tell the
01:57world that we are important and tell the world that we are friends and buddies and we had to meet first.
02:07So, I wish the timing would have been a little better for both countries, not just for India.
02:13This trip was really about America telling India what they want. There was very little
02:24room for negotiation. There was very little ask from India side. The way Indian media is showing
02:36the way Indian media is showing is very different.
02:42So, the real issues from the US side were first trade, saying look we have trade deficit
02:52and we want to balance that. And we are going to settle trade with everybody
02:57and you are no different. Of course, your trade is small compared to others.
03:05But we want to balance it. So, we will increase tariff.
03:13We will call that reciprocative tariff. We don't know what that number is going to be yet.
03:21Details will be worked out. But we want balanced trade and we want you to buy things from us.
03:29We want you to buy oil from us, gas from us and we want you to buy defence more and more,
03:41whether it is fighter plane or anything else. So, today if our trade is 190 billion,
03:51we want that to be 500 billion, which is a good growth by 2030. That's only five years.
04:04So, not only double it, but make it two and a half times in five years is pretty ambitious.
04:14The question is what will that mix be? So, one was trade. We can talk more about trade. Second
04:20one was immigration. Third was really defence purchase. Asia-Pacific, the rest of the stuff
04:31was not that critical. You can all lump that into technology, defence and all that.
04:41Those were the real issues. I think it is important to increase trade
04:46with every country because trade is a sure way to establish relationship,
04:54peace and prosperity for everybody. But the point is, is it a fair trade?
05:02Are you selling me something I need at the international price?
05:06Am I selling you something that you need at a fair price? Or we are inflating each other's price?
05:15And you are asking me to buy things I don't need.
05:21If I can buy cheaper somewhere else, why would I buy from you or for that matter from anybody else?
05:30So, I think these are the operational issues that will have to be sorted out.
05:35It is always good to have increased trade with any country
05:39because that allows all people to come closer to each other
05:42and that sort of helps in peace and prosperity everywhere.
05:52I don't want to get into that. I had mentioned it to you and your colleagues earlier.
05:58But the results tell you who is a better negotiator.
06:03Don't look at the words because many leaders don't mean what they say
06:07and they don't say what they mean. So, don't take it as a flattery.
06:15Look at the results of the negotiations and then you can figure out yourself who is a better negotiator.
06:26I don't know what is the threat from China. I think there is always this thing blown out of
06:32at times proportion because US has the habit of defining an enemy.
06:39I think time has come for all of us to really network nations and not have confrontation.
06:49Our attitude is that of confrontation from day one.
06:53And that attitude creates an enemy and that creates certain
07:02support in the country. I think we need to change that pattern.
07:10To assume that China is the enemy from day one
07:14is just not fair, not just to China but to anybody.
07:17I think it is time for us to learn to increase communication, collaborate, cooperate and co-create
07:27and not have this command and control mindset. China is around, China is growing. You got to
07:36recognize that, respect that. And every other country is going to grow.
07:43Some will grow faster, some will grow slower. Those who are very poor has to grow faster.
07:53Those who are well accomplished, developed, they will have slower growth. Those who are
08:03developed also will have aging population. And those who are developing will have young
08:15population. So, you got to look at all of these things together.
08:24It is always good for leaders to meet each other. It is always good for them to
08:31build bond, friendship, understanding. And whenever you go out, you learn something.
08:39You learn something from others. You open your horizon. You see things differently.
08:47So, it is always good to have foreign interactions because we are a country of 1.5 billion people.
08:55So, we need more and more foreign interactions. The question is timing, purpose and clarity
09:06of purpose. For example, I have said time and time again that I wish we had strategic relationship
09:16with US and not transactional. See, it reminds me of days of Nehru.
09:26When Nehru and Kennedy worked out a plan for a strategic relationship,
09:32which said America will help us on IITs and IIMs. Look at the strategic vision,
09:39the strategic vision which really brought us where we are today.
09:44That was one very important input. America will help us in big projects.
09:53Today, there is no conversation on education. There is no conversation on health.
10:01There is very little conversation on infrastructure. It is basically products.
10:07I will sell you gas and oil and computers and laptops and cell phones. You sell me
10:13clothing and stuff like that. So, I would like to see a strategic relationship.
10:23You know, we talked about AI and all that, but there is nothing concrete.
10:27Did America say that we will come and build 5 AI centres for India together like we build 5 IITs?
10:37That would be strategic. So, I am disappointed that we still are focused on transactions.
10:48But that is the way it is.
10:57Well, since I worked on the railway modernization
11:03plan and prepared a document for the Government of India during Dr. Manmohan Singh's time and during
11:13Mr. Dinesh Trivedi's time, when Mr. Dinesh Trivedi was the Minister of Railways,
11:20we paid a lot of attention to safety.
11:22There was a special report on safety.
11:32I believe we are not paying much attention to safety. We are not making enough investments on
11:38safety because safety is not glamour. So, we are more concerned about
11:45high-speed trains than about repairing our tracks.
11:56I would like to see more money going into safety, security,
12:03repairing our tracks so that you don't see too many railway accidents
12:10because railway is a place where too many people come together.
12:15The risks are very high compared to a bus stand or even compared to airport.
12:22So, when you see a stampede in Delhi, you realize that it is because of the crowd.
12:30And the risk of losing lives in this kind of a crowd is very high.
12:37So, I wish we could spend a lot more investments in improving railway safety.
12:47You know, I see accidents, one in Chennai, then somewhere else, then
12:51somewhere else, and a lot of these accidents have to do with poor tracks.
12:57And we need to really pay more attention to that. But it's not glamorous.
13:02Starting a bullet train with a green Janda and showing the Prime Minister and others
13:07celebrating is pretty sexy. So, we do that.
13:13So, I'm disappointed that we are not making or implementing the recommendations
13:20by the Safety Committee that's already there for the last decade.
13:33What Congress President has to answer?
13:36It's not for me to answer. I can answer about the Indian Overseas Congress.
13:45You know, I get very disappointed when I see these two memes. You said this, I said that.
13:50Okay, you believe this, I believe that.
13:53Okay, and immediately we go into discussion on religion, caste, minorities.
14:02Too much energy is spent on conversations on religion.
14:10Religion is a personal thing. I respect it.
14:14I don't want to know your religion. It will be nice if it comes in our normal conversation,
14:19that's okay. But before you start, I don't want to know whether you are Muslim or Hindu
14:24or Christian or Jain. I respect you for what you are.
14:29We immediately try to divide people as opposed to bring them in. That is the concept of inclusion.
14:43I wish our conversation would change from religion, caste to more looking at the future.
14:54We are always looking at the back. We don't have eyes in the back. We have eyes in front.
15:01So, we got to look at front. How are we going to create jobs?
15:06Who is creating jobs? How are you going to improve our education quality?
15:13How are we going to clean up our hospitals?
15:16You know, I was talking to a fellow
15:21from India recently and he talked about his daughter's school and this and that. I said, look,
15:28why don't you go to your daughter's school and fix all the bathrooms rather than complaining.
15:33Just go do it. Who will stop you? Maybe you go at night.
15:38Okay, take 5 people with you and install proper door. Make sure bathrooms are clean. Install light,
15:47maybe a camera rather than complaining. But there is very little conversation in the country about
15:55providing proper bathrooms to our girl children in schools. Immediately, that will get into
16:04Vishnu said this and Rama said this and Allah said this or Hanuman said this.
16:13I get irritated.
16:17I get irritated because we lose sight of the real challenge.
16:23I worry about our children's education, quality of education. Some kids are very smart
16:28because they are smart to begin with. Schools have nothing to do with it.
16:33When you have large number of kids, you are bound to have some good ones.
16:39So, I wish even in US trip, there was little more conversation on education,
16:48health. We talk about cleaning India. I mean, look at the filth all over. What are we talking
16:56about cleaning? You look at Yamuna. You look at, you know, dirt in Mumbai near slums.
17:04But we have big posters on clean up India. We take great pride in promoting lies.
17:14And social media hasn't helped. Social media has really complicated our life
17:20by spreading lies, rumours, misinformation, threat,
17:28dividing society, spreading fear. That's not good for a developing society like ours.
17:38We have no time but to improve our education, health, infrastructure and not worry about
17:45buying so many fighter jets. That's my concern. We get all excited that we are going to be allowed
17:52to buy more fighter jets. Come on, give me a break. I want to improve our fundamentals.
18:05I want to improve character of our leaders. I am very disappointed with the character of our
18:10leaders, values they bring in, you know. I mean, they are just,
18:18you know, they remind me of Gandhi Jizera saying, where was Gandhi?
18:23His values, his character, his commitment, his sacrifice and where are the leaders of today?
18:32I am ashamed of many, you know. They are vindictive.
18:40They don't listen. They think they know all the answers and democracy is definitely
18:48under threat. I heard someone from the government speaking about
18:53democracy recently on some YouTube. Democracy is not about elections.
19:00Election is a starting point. Free and fair election is a starting point
19:06which we don't have today, I can tell you.
19:09Second thing is really institutions, independent institutions — judiciary,
19:16security, police, universities. Our universities are not independent.
19:22If I get invited to a university, vice-chancellor gets panicked.
19:27Oh, Petroda is invited? No, no, no, no. Government might say something, don't invite him.
19:33Is that democracy? Is that freedom? Then civil society is not allowed to function properly.
19:44Third, media is not fair.
19:49These are the things that make democracy, you know. And we say, yes, we have democracy.
19:57Because we had elections. No, that's not true. We didn't have fair and free elections.
20:06Now we can talk about the degree of it and we can have a discussion on it. That's fine.
20:12But I should be able to have a conversation,
20:17a dignified conversation. You and I had a dignified conversation.
20:21You know, we don't have to agree on everything.
20:25But you are a young man and I need to understand your needs.
20:29I need to listen to you.
20:31And quickly, I don't need to start advising you.
20:36So, I see a challenge here. Our young don't speak up about their needs and future.
20:44They also get trapped in discussion on religion,
20:46discussion on petty issues. They don't say, wait a minute, where are the jobs? Explain to me.
20:54How many in construction? How many in agriculture? How many in technology? How many jobs in
21:00government? Where is the list? What does it cost to create one job in railway, in telecom,
21:09in infrastructure? I want to know all that. Can we have a conversation on that?
21:14Can we have a conversation on that? I hardly see it. I am interested in development.
21:22I am interested in cleaning up India. I mean, look at we have this Make in India. What are we making?
21:28Is there anything that is made in India that world will buy?
21:32Because we are the only one expert in that except IT and software.
21:38And that also happened because the seeds were planted 40 years ago.
21:43Okay. Would you buy our cars? Would you buy our power plant? Would you buy our, you know,
21:53agriculture produce? Is it competitive? That's where the future is. If we want to create jobs
22:02for our people, we must produce for the global market at the right price, the right quality.
22:11And that's made in India, not some posters and tiger and some nice, you know, gears shown. Okay.
22:19Too much resources are spent on publicity
22:26and not enough on the ground to get things done.
22:29Because it's all about tamasha, no? Sad, but that's how it works.