How are Congress and BJP different? Rahul Gandhi responds​on January 5, 2025 at 2:14 am

How are Congress and BJP different? Rahul Gandhi responds

​How are Congress and BJP different? Rahul Gandhi responds How are Congress and BJP different? Rahul Gandhi responds   

Giving a differentiation between the Congress and the BJP, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi asserted that his party believed that the distribution of resources should be done more fairly, and growth should be wider and inclusive. In a freewheeling conversation with IIT Madras students on Saturday, Rahul Gandhi said the BJP was more aggressive on “triple-down” growth.

“They believe in what in economic terms is ‘triple-down’. On the social front, we feel that the more harmonious society is, the less people are fighting, the better it is for the country,” he said.

“On the international relations front, there are probably some differences with regards to the way we relate to other countries, but they will be similar,” the Congress leader added.

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha underlined that governments should spend more on ensuring quality education, which he said could not be achieved through privatisation and financial incentives.

Asked on how higher education should be promoted, Rahul Gandhi said a country should guarantee quality education to its people.

“I don’t think that the best way to guarantee quality education to our people is to privatise everything. Frankly, when you bring some sort of financial incentive into the game, you don’t actually give quality education,” he told the IIT Madras students.

“I have said this many a times that the best institutions in our country are government institutions, yours being one of them. I argue for much more money being spent in education by governments,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi said he had “serious problems” with the country’s education system, saying it had a “very narrow, restrictive and a top-down” approach.

“You might not agree with me. I think it is a very restrictive and a top-down system. It is very narrow. I don’t think our education system allows the imagination of our children to thrive,” he said.

He strongly batted for innovation by children, saying it could only come if they started production and their skill was respected, and investment was made in it.

“One of the things that I want to push is moving more into the physical production space. To me, real innovation comes from that space. Put as much money you want in research and development, if you are not actually producing the thing, it will just be a budget,” he said.

Recalling his 2022-23 Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi said he spoke to thousands of children about their aspirations and they told him that they wanted to become a doctor, lawyer, engineer or an army soldier.

“It can’t be that there are only five things to do in this country. But that’s what our system is pushing,” he said, noting that the country’s education system measures success only if one becomes an engineer or a doctor, or join the IAS/IPS or get into the forces, “which is just one percent or two percent of our population and 90 percent of our population is never going to do this”.

The Congress leader said the education system should allow children to do what they want and allow them to experience, and do multiple things.

“Our education system disregards many things, it undervalues many professions and overvalues these four or five professions. So those are the types of things that I would like to change,” he further said.

(with inputs from PTI)