Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has said that encouraging freedom of thought and tolerance should form the foundation of the development dreams of the country.
He was interacting with young entrepreneurs at the Technology Innovation Zone under the Kerala Startup Mission at Kalamassery on Wednesday evening.
Mr. Gandhi said that it didn’t make sense to extol Digital and Startup India while remaining intolerant to diverse ideas and views.
Innovative ideas sprout by enabling youngsters to explore diverse ideas freely. That remains the soul of initiatives like start-ups. Violence and murder cannot be allowed, said Mr. Gandhi as he exhorted youngsters to be broad-hearted and think freely.
Intolerance
He attributed the suicide of a student in the University of Hyderabad and the protest at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune to intolerance. An enabling and tolerant environment open to diverse ideas is what attract youngsters to the IT hub of Silicon Valley in the U.S.
People can freely work there irrespective of sartorial styles and without any discrimination based on colour of the skin and sex. Mr. Gandhi called for introspection as to whether such an environment prevails in the research and development sectors in India.
It is the duty of the government to create an environment conducive for the development of the industries, including IT and startups. Kerala is a model for the rest of the country in this. The government here is always accessible to entrepreneurs to share their problems and ideas.
Mr. Gandhi said that it needs to be assessed whether the inherent diversities of the Indian societal setup were adversely affecting the startups. He said that changes are possible if youngsters think differently, which in turn would reflect in the society.
Thirty-two entrepreneurs in the Technology Innovation Zone interacted with Mr. Gandhi who also presented their innovative projects. He also visited the FabLab.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, MLAs Benny Behanan and Hibi Eden, KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran, Principal IT Secretary P.H. Kurian, Kerala Startup Mission CEO Jayasankar Prasad and Startup Village CEO Pranav Kumar Suresh were also present.
