Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi spoke with sincerity and disarming frankness at the meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry on Thursday. The fact that his speech came in for a lot of flak from social media dominated by the privileged sections shows it was good. Rahul made no attempt to impress the audience but did his best to relate to people. He was realistic enough to say that it is futile to pin our hopes on any one individual. The thrust of his speech is that the growth story should include the poor. He captured the spirit of India when he compared the vast nation to a beehive buzzing with a billion and more voices.
G. David Milton,
Maruthancode
Hats off to Rahul who spoke with politeness and courage! We do not like anyone speaking the truth in public but we appreciate exaggerated claims of success which are contrary to reality.
Excessive coverage and analysis in the electronic media, strong criticism by the Opposition, and bashing on the social media with the intention to find fault show that Rahul has scored well with his speech.
J. Richard Jonathan,
Tuticorin
Those who expected big ticket pronouncements from Rahul Gandhi are disappointed. He spoke about empowering all sections of society. His remark that one man cannot change everything is true, although a leader could just ignite the spark that is needed.
D.B.N. Murthy,
Bangalore
As a Prime Minister aspirant, Rahul Gandhi failed to provide hope to people in his speech at the CII meet. Simply lampooning the system and the government, headed by his own party, will not solve problems. India needs pragmatic, not idealistic, leadership. No one can set right everything instantly but one should attempt to do so. Rahul had many opportunities to make his ideas like decentralisation a reality but he failed to use them. In Andhra Pradesh, for instance, the ruling Congress has been avoiding elections to the local bodies which are crucial for decentralisation. Rahul has done nothing about it.
Gampa Sai Datta,
Siddipet
