Thread by @ganesan312

Excerpts: Rahul’s brilliant interaction - with Prof. Ashutosh Varshney, faculty, students...

Part 5 -Topic: “Stop and look at yourself” Gandhiji.

It covers how Rahul looked at himself, the criticisms heaped on him by Modi/ BJP/ RSS; how their attack on his sense is a gift.
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Q
You said something really extraordinarily beautiful. But I think, this is you and ‘not necessarily the Congress party’. You have replaced the idea of Swaraj with the beautiful idea of shunyata and I want to know...

Rahul:
No no. You would be surprised, very very surprised.
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There are hundreds and hundreds of Congress workers who had this idea. The problem is they are not in power. They are there.
I can tell you name after name after name who is sitting there, literally doing harakiri, right - political. He is eating himself.
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It is the opposite of the RSS. You said Gandhiji came out with a new idea. It is not a new idea. It is a very old idea in India.

It is a regurgitation of some of those ideas but and in ‘hind swaraj’ what he is saying is that Western civilization is not looking into itself.
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It refuses to look into itself and the Indian civilization has the capacity every now and then to look into itself very deeply.

(Q: To give up power…)
You might give up power, but you might not. Gandhi did not. If you take a blunt view of power. you can say Gandhi gave up.
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But if you take a sophisticated view of power, Gandhi used his part to give us the constitution.
Power is not simply to become an MLA or MP. This is a gross misunderstanding. Power is the ability to influence.
Are you telling me Gandhiji give up the ability to influence?
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He is still influencing. He is influencing me. But the essence of Swaraj which I think any modern vision of India has to have.

My biggest problem with BJP, RSS, PM is that they have no capacity to look inside themselves, cracking the negotiation between domestic forces.
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I am very happy with you because you attack my sense of self every morning.
I love it because it gives me a very strange thing.
Q: Spiritual gifts.

Rahul:
Yeah. I just thank my God. This is amazing.
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When you are facing a political force, people do not understand. They are attacking me. They are helping me refine; helping me to understand.

I could not have had this conversation I am having with you today, 10 years ago.
Who did it? The BJP, RSS did it. So thank you.
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But just to conclude what Gandhiji was saying to everybody.

Stop and look at what you are doing.
When you just stop 30 seconds and just ask yourself ‘What I'm doing. Is this correct?’
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What he was saying to Indians when they faced the British is, you are enslaved not because the British are powerful but because you are refusing to look at yourself and that is all he taught us.
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The above contents include Gandhiji’s ideas, Rahul’s views, interpretations; indicate the direction in which Rahul, Congress is going.

It is for Congress cadres, supporters, leaders to understand, follow, spread, propagate among people.

Your comments, opinion are welcome.
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