Democratic structure, voice of people under attack by those running govt: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that the nation's democratic structure and the voice of the people are under attack by those running the central government.

Taking part in a school function at Gudalur near here, Gandhi, while interacting with students, said he wanted to develop an India where people are kind to each other, where people listen to each other, respect each other's traditions, respect each other's languages, respect each other's religions, and are kind to each other. The most important value for a politician, student, or a teacher is humility. "So I would advise all the children here to be humble."

To a question posed by a student he said, "democracy is the idea that you should have a voice, I should have a voice, all these people should have a voice." Furthermore, he said: "I've been saying that our democratic structure is under attack and so our voice, the voice of our people is under attack. And it is under attack by those in government. By the people who are actually running the government." The Election Commission and several other institutions were under attack, he alleged.

"They are threatening people who don't agree with their ideology. So, we need young people like you who are brave, who are confident and who are not scared of asking questions."

To a question related to body shaming, Gandhi asked if someone behaved in an ignorant manner that was not the limitation of the person who was targeted. "I get attacked quite a lot. You must have seen my opponents attack me. I don't take what they say seriously."

To a question related to Aravalli hill ranges, he said: "It is very important that we don't sacrifice our environment for development...people are just being short-sighted and greedy and then they are destroying the environment, I think we need balance and need to be very sensitive."

On treating women with dignity, he said he learnt a lot from his grandmother, mother and sister and added that he has seen women being extremely capable, more sensitive and more capable than men.

"Women have a longer-term vision than men, and it is very important that they have a large role to play in areas, including businesses, defense forces and bureaucracy," he said.

On his unforgettable memory from his school days, Gandhi said he was very naughty in school and used to always do mischief. He said he studied in a boarding school.

He said: "And I was actually quite happy in the school. But I had convinced my parents that I was very unhappy because I wanted them to keep coming. So my parents would keep coming to see me and they thought I was very unhappy, but I was actually quite happy. So that was one memory."

While interacting with students he also emphasised on good quality government education, allocations in the budget for education and creating jobs across sectors. Chinese have dominated manufacturing and, "we want them to be made in India." he said. At the end of the programme, he extended Pongal greetings to the people in Tamil.