Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 7 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said if he was not in politics, he would probably be doing some entrepreneurship in the aerospace world.
Gandhi was responding to a query during a dialogue with the Information Technology (IT) Fraternity at Technopark here.
He said he has been defined as a politician by many, but he actually does a lot of other things.
Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said he was of the view that calling someone a politician, technocrat, techie or engineer were “constricting definitions”.
“If I was not working for a political organisation, I would probably be doing some entrepreneurship, probably in the aerospace world. I am a pilot, so was my father and my uncle. So, we have that little strain,” he said.
“We should be curious about everything. You should have an open mind to everything and that is when you start to connect the dots,” the LoP, who is on a two-day visit to Kerala, added.
Gandhi also answered questions regarding his personal life, the routine he follows and his pet dogs.
He said that he never sees his work as a job as most of the time he is curious about the things happening around him.
The Congress leader further said as part of his daily routine, he reads before going to sleep and exercises for about an hour.
Rahul said he developed this habit of working out from his grandmother Indira Gandhi, who used to exercise in her room for an hour every day.
“When I asked her about it, she told me that her father told her that in life a person should spend one hour on physical exercise. I think it is a very good rule,” the LoP said.
Rahul also spoke about his love for football and martial arts, his boxing practice in college and the triathlons he used to participate in the past.
“I have always done martial arts,” he said.
The LoP further said that he does not restrict his kindness to human beings alone.
“I think one should be kind and gentle to all beings. Even Mahatma Gandhi was of the view that people or a country that does not respect all forms of life, including animals, have a long way to go,” he said while answering a query related to his relationship with his pet dogs.
Towards the conclusion of the dialogue, Rahul said that he has a deep bond with Kerala and its people as they “embraced” him at a time when he facing the “most vicious and unfair attack”.
“That I will never forget,” he said.
The Congress leader also said that he has learnt a lot from Kerala about respecting people, other cultures, being affectionate to others, how politics is done in the state and the way hospitals are run in the state.
“I have a debt of gratitude towards you. I am here to work with you and help you in whatever way I can,” he said.
Gandhi also said that Sree Narayana Guru reflected the spirit of Kerala and urged the people of the state to express “freely and openly” the spirit of the state.
During his interaction with tech professionals, he also spoke about the education system in India.
He said that having studied and worked abroad and in India, he feels that there are huge advantages to the Indian system of education.
“But we don’t actually play on those advantages. The Indian mind can manage complexity like no other mind. No American mind can manage the level of complexity that an Indian mind can.
“Our system is much better at managing the internal space. The western world cannot manage internal space, but they are very good at organising outside space,” he said.
He further said that China claims that it has never been colonised.
“Well, we colonised them. Buddhism colonised the Chinese. It went from here. So, their entire philosophical structure comes from Bihar,” he contended.
During his interaction he also referred to an incident in 2015-16, when he told an SPG Director, who came to his house, that drones were going to be a huge security problem for him.
He said that a few days later “drones were banned across the country”.
“So, please understand the power. That one guy who just happens to be security can explode the entire industry in a second. One bureaucrat can suddenly turn around and just blow entire industries to pieces.
“It was not just a security problem. It was a billions of dollar industry. We have got to deal with the security issue and not kill the industry,” the LoP said.
For that, there needs to be discussions with the people involved in the industry and not just among bureaucrats themselves, he added. PTI HMP ROH
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