Rahul Gandhi mocks political opponents' love for limelight

Rahul Gandhi. Pic/PTI

Taking a dig at his political opponents in Delhi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the leadership in the national capital would like to turn all loudspeakers and cameras in their direction, but he prefers to turn the microphone to the people and listen to what they have to say.

Addressing a gathering after presenting the first Priyadarshini Literary Award by KPCC to renowned writer T Padmanabhan, he said politicians are quite a funny variety of people, and loudspeakers are always facing them.

"It (loudspeakers) is not facing the crowd because we like to hear ourselves speak. Every time I go there, I have to turn the speakers the other way. I think, in today's India, it is very important that the speaker is allowed to be turned the other way. Because, if you look at your leadership in Delhi, all loudspeakers and cameras are pointed in this direction," Gandhi said, gesturing.

He said that there is, of course, a big difference between writers like Padmanabhan and politicians like himself. "It is much easier for Padmanabhan to speak the truth than it is for politicians. That is something which he has done in his whole life without exception," he said.

He said that's why the KPCC is giving the writer the award because "whatever comes to his heart, he is ready to put on a piece of paper".

The Wayanad MP also urged politicians to speak the truth like writers. "As politicians, we should aspire to be like writers, that whatever comes to our minds, whatever truth comes to our minds, we put it in front of the people," he said.

However, Gandhi admitted that it was a much "harder job" as people tend not to like the truth.

Stating that nations are built on truth and cannot be built on a lie, the leader said that is one lesson our founding fathers taught us better than anybody else. "Truth takes time...it takes perseverance...it takes patience...but eventually truth is much more powerful than lies," Gandhi further said.

He said that in his political life, he tried to be as much like a writer as possible and said whatever he felt like saying, though it tended to cause problems.

But he owed it to the people of India who have given him so much love and respect, and this prompted him to speak the truth even when it was uncomfortable, he added.

In a time like today, when freedom is under attack, where hatred and violence are being spread in society, people like T Padmanabhan lay the foundation for the fight against it, Gandhi added.

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