Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Students cherish interface with Rahul Gandhi

VIJAYAWADA: Students of Andhra Loyola College, who interacted with AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, appeared to have enjoyed every moment of it as one could gauge from their reactions.

The young leader spent about 80 minutes with close to 2,000 students in Fr. Devaiah auditorium.

He touched upon various issues – from inviting youth into politics to caste-based reservations, global warming, terrorism, poverty eradication to making India superpower by achieving overall development.

“I wish he could have spent at least a few hours with us. He maintained certain decorum throughout the interaction, and for me he is a replica of his father Rajiv Gandhi,” said an excited Aaron Jude Netto, a B.A. final year student of Special English and an ardent fan of the Nehru family.

He cherished getting an opportunity to ask a question about attacks on Indian students in Australia.

“Mr. Rahul said that the attacks are not acceptable and he spoke to the Australian Ministers about the issue. A discussion took place about brain drain, which he neither supported nor opposed,” an elated Netto said.

The student said that Mr. Rahul disagreed with the general notion that there was large scale migration of talented persons from the country, and asked him whether Bangalore would have become the Silicon City of the country if the entire talent had migrated to other countries.

“I thought it is going to be a serious meeting, as he is a big man. But, he is very simple and cool and completely formal. He addressed the students who posed questions with their names and asked us not to address him as sir or Rahulji,” said D. Krishna, a final year student of B.A. Special English.

“I feel he had genuine interest in the problems of the cross section of society and he wanted to know our opinions on various issues,” he explained.

Anindita Nath, a student of final year B.Sc. Computer Science, got an opportunity to reply to a question posed by Mr. Rahul on caste-based reservations.

She supported the existing system of reservations, as there were many who needed social uplift.

“I have changed my opinion about politics after the interaction. Youth should enter politics and contribute their mite to the country,” she said, lauding the young leader for making the session a “household talk.”

“He is so simple. Just wore khadi and mingled with us like a student,” exclaimed Willy Cross, a final year student of B.Sc. Biotechnology and an ‘admirer’ of the young leader. She was disappointed on not being able to get his autograph.

P. Vijaya Raj, a final year student of B.Sc. Biotechnology felt that Mr. Rahul showed interest in all issues and wanted to interact with all sections of the society. “He is a very jovial person and quite down to earth. He never asked us to join the NSUI, but told us to take part in politics,” he said.

A few students felt that the meeting was organised to encourage students to join the NSUI.

“It looked more like a campaign to attract the students towards NSUI,” said S.T.P. Teja, a first year student of Visual Communication.

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