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My role in politics is of a catalyst: Rahul

Photo: PTI

The perfect handshake: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi interacts with a medical student in Jodhpur on Wednesday.

JAIPUR: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has defined his present role in politics as that of a “catalyst”. The party has entrusted him with the task of strengthening its youth wing and he would confine himself to this role for the time being, he said on Wednesday.

“I know what my responsibility is. The Congress party is not my responsibility at present,” he said.

“I have been in politics for five years. I don’t have the experience of senior party leaders. I do understand the Youth Congress—though not fully yet. I cannot tell the Congress party what it should do,” Mr. Gandhi said interacting with media persons here on the concluding day of his whirlwind two-day tour of Rajasthan. His reply came in response to a question on “Rahul Gandhi as a grown-up person” and whether he had ever thought about other job options than joining politics.

“I do not see politics as a job. I see it as my responsibility—for the time being, it is empowering the youth of the country,” he said.

Mr. Gandhi was accompanied by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Union Rural Development Minister C. P. Joshi, party secretary Jitendra Singh and Indian Youth Congress president Ashok Tanwar.

This was his first programme after reaching Jaipur 2 hours and 20 minutes behind schedule. Prior to this he travelled across the State touching Sawai Madhopur, Kota, Udaipur, Barmer, Jodhpur and Bikaner. At the press conference he chose to confine himself to the topics related to youth in politics. He also refused to make any observation on the Liberhan Commission report. Yet, even after his forays towards youth in different States of the country during the past few months as part of the Youth Congress campaign evoking good response, Mr. Gandhi, the gentleman politician, appeared reluctant to take any credit for that as well. “Rahul Gandhi has not empowered the youth. The youth have empowered themselves,” he asserted.

He was candid about his age when a scribe asked him to define youth. “I am old – 39 -- going by the demographic profile of India (which is young). Fifty per cent of the population in India is below 40 years,” he noted. He refused to make a comment on the oft repeated query on his marriage which provoked a scribe to comment, “You are the most wanted bachelor in the country.”

Mr. Gandhi said the party had entrusted him with the job of bringing in dynamism to the Youth Congress and the National Students Union and his attempts to increase membership as well attract first generation youth to politics were showing results though the situation varied from State to State. “There has been a good response in Rajasthan. The case was similar in Punjab, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu,” he said.

He said the whole process of election to the student and youth bodies of the party was humane and democratic. “Ours is not a winner-takes-all system. All sections, Dalits, Adivasis, Minorities women, all have a place,” he said. “Again, it is not that if one wins the others lose,” he said. The process of attracting youth from families hitherto not in political leadership was not very easy though it was happening, he said. “We had a lot of such leaders in the past too,” Mr. Gandhi said mentioning Meenakshi Natarajan, Youth Congress general secretary. He also mentioned Mr. Gehlot and Mr. C. P. Joshi as leaders who have come up through the party’s youth organisation.

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My role in politics is of a catalyst: Rahul

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