Mumbai: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said Sunday that he sometimes thought of quitting politics and that politics had now become more about power than about social or developmental change.
At an event in Nagpur, Gadkari said: “We need to understand what the word politics means. Is politics samajkaran (social work), rashtrakaran (nation building), vikaskaran (developmental work) or just sattakaran (a game of power)?”
He said in the olden days — since the time of Mahatma Gandhi — politics was part of a social movement. It was more about social work and nation-building, he said.
“But now we see 100 percent sattakaran (power play),” Gadkari said, adding that politics should be a true instrument of social and economic reform.
The Member of Parliament from Nagpur, who helms Union portfolios such as road transport and highways, was speaking at an event to honour social worker and former legislative council member (MLC) Girish Gandhi.
Gadkari said, “When Girish bhau was in politics, I would discourage him. I think a lot about when I should quit politics. There are more things worth doing in life than politics.”
Gandhi, a former MLC with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), quit the party in 2014. A close associate of Gadkari, he has steered clear of joining any other political party since then.
Gadkari also said politics was a game of “contradictions, compulsions and limitations”.
“One doesn’t know what happens when. As they say, anything can happen in politics,” he added.
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