1) "Mayawati is a national icon. She is with the BSP, but she has sent a message to the country. I respect her, I love her." 2) "He (Modi) has shown how not to run the nation. If you will run the country without listening to anybody, you won't be a good leader. There's no match to PM Modi's communication skills." 3) “Prime Minister Narendra Modi should debate me on issues such as corruption, notes ban, Goods and Services Tax and farmer crisis, given that the PM works very hard and sleeps for only three hours." 4) "Wherever I travel, people are scared everywhere. They say a force is trying to control the country." 5) "We are against the ideology which is spreading hatred in the country...This is the ideology of hatred and we are fighting against it."<doc-sep>Rahul Gandhi Interview: He spoke to NDTV's Ravish Kumar about poll issues and PM Modi. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi spoke to NDTV's Ravish Kumar this afternoon and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "personal hatred" against him. On a question if he is ready to become the prime minister of the country, he said: "I will do whatever people across the country want." He also said Congress has held numerous press conferences on Rafale issue to "highlight the corruption". He challenged PM Modi for a debate on issues such as corruption, notes ban, Goods and Services Tax and farmer crisis. The Congress chief also said Sam Pitroda's comment on "1984 tragedy was wrong" and those who "committed the violence should be punished". Here are the highlights of Rahul Gandhi's interview to NDTV:<doc-sep>In the middle of his election rally in Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi spoke to NDTV’s Hindi news anchor and journalist, Ravish Kumar. In stark contrast to Narendra Modi’s preference for safe interviews in friendly television studios and “apolitical” conversations with film stars held in his residential lawn, the Congress President faced unscripted questions from one of India’s most inspiring journalists, with elan. Rahul finds it necessary to reemphasise the politics of love, in an atmosphere vitiated by moral vulgarity and hatred. There is nothing “mysterious” about the pamphlet on Atishi – the East Delhi candidate from Aam Aadmi Party. The language of the pamphlet bears proof to three tendencies coming together: one, the audacity of a patriarchal mindset; two, the culture of caricaturing a political opponent; and three, lowering the level of political discourse by introducing vile rumours. We know which political ideology has been practising these tendencies for the last five years. The pattern is unmistakable. There is a moral vulgarity that is being injected into our political language so that people vote according to their basest instincts. There seems to be accepted wisdom among hyper-nationalists that unless indecent language and methods are used to woo the voters, they won’t vote for them. Rahul has matched indecent language with his insistence on love. It was brave of Rahul to talk about love at a time when you can smell hatred in the air, sense its viscous poison spreading throughout social media, WhatsApp and other mediums, see and hear it in people who are hypnotised by a man who is encouraging them to sacrifice their brains for paranoia and acrimony. Also read: The Scurrilous Pamphlet on Atishi Bears the Stench of Familiar Political Practice Rahul affirmed the political spine of the Congress by saying that it was his party that took the “political fight” to the BJP. He backed up this assertion by stating that if Modi had attacked anyone most fiercely, it has been his party, and his predecessors – who also happen to belong to his family. Rahul Gandhi’s selfless appeal Earlier in the day, Rahul was quick not to allow the BJP to take much advantage of Sam Pitroda’s crass and demeaning comments on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Asking Pitroda to apologise, Rahul said his comment was “absolutely and completely out of line and is not appreciated”. It is, tactically, not an easy proposition for the BJP to try and remind people in Delhi of 1984 – when Sikhs in Punjab are looking to have a “Modi-Mukt” state. The Sikhs are also not fooled by BJP’s nationalism, coupled with their anti-minorities agenda. There may be no love for the Congress, but there is a clear political assessment of the dangers of a majoritarian regime that may deteriorate historic and pragmatic relations across the border. Hate is not a solution, but a perpetuation, of the tragedies of history. Those who have suffered it know it. The next interesting thing Rahul said, that drew the attention of his astute interviewer, was his desire to “destroy the self” in politics. To begin with, it is a project of the annihilation of the ego. Rahul passionately explained his desire to obliterate his own “voice” when faced with, or in the presence of, others, and other voices. Taking the example of the farmer, Rahul tried to explain, that only when he will be able to obliterate, to erase, his own voice in the presence of the farmer, will he be able to listen to the farmer’s “pure agony”. He extended this to mean the worker, the journalist, and anyone he meets, or faces. It is a project of ethical selfhood, where the voice (and presence) of the other takes precedence over the egoistic voice of the self. There are echoes here of Gandhi, where Gandhi spoke of realising the truth in his experience of “meeting the peasants (at Champaran)” where he came “face to face with God, Ahimsa and Truth.” It is a language less religious and more ethical, when you consider the material ground of its unfolding. Rahul added an important element of voice in this encounter. You strain to hear something that is higher than you. You elevate yourself to hear it. It is an ethical process of lifting oneself from the deaf room of the narcissist ego that only knows how to hear itself, and lean towards the other voice, the contrarian voice who speaks something else, not always to your advantage, or for your pleasure, but something more demanding. Also read: Backstory: Five Years of the Silence of the Lambs Rahul showed admirable keenness to get closer to the feelings and thoughts of his interlocutor. The interpretation of Rahul’s language does not assume that a politician necessarily lives by his principles. The political connection between speech and actions is a spurious and contentious one, marked by the vagaries of time and the limits posed by instrumentality. But nevertheless, the interpretation is necessary to elucidate, and bring to notice, in a country where in the last five years political language has reached its nadir. There is nothing particularly inspiring in the discourse of mainstream Indian politics today. Barring marginal voices like Jignesh Mewani and Kanhaiya Kumar. In such a scenario, it is heartening to hear Rahul being anxious to recover the ethical language that had fled from Indian politics. Modi’s conceited responses Rahul’s open interviews to the press propelled Modi into giving his first ever proper political interview, after becoming the PM, to the Indian Express today. In contrast to Rahul’s desire to improve the democratic discourse, Modi’s attitude smacked of arrogance. He lectured his interviewers on stories the newspaper had failed to “follow-up” on. He took another jibe at the newspaper for bringing up the INS Viraat issue (about the BJP paying huge amounts for Modi’s “non-official domestic trips”). The prime minister appeared anxious about how his “image” was represented in newspapers like the Indian Express. In Modi’s understanding, anything that is written in disfavour amounts to bias, rather than a legitimate expression of press freedom. A newspaper’s prerogative is the protection of truth, not the protection of a politician’s self-image. Upon being asked how he compares himself to Modi’s claim of sleeping only three hours and working for eighteen hours a day, Rahul connected it to his earlier point to make a larger assertion. He asked what the meaning of “work” was for a political leader – and explained that it meant to listen to people’s “voices”, and to “think” about what people are saying. He challenged Modi to a debate on people’s issues. What Rahul meant to emphasise here was the important point that a leader’s political commitment is not to be measured by his hours of sleep, but his hours of engagement. From that yardstick, he found Modi wanting. Also read: Modi Battling for Modi Rahul defined work in politics as something not limited to orations alone. In a democracy, political work does not entail merely delivering speeches and indulging in the passing of comments. This amounts to a mere monologue. The point is well taken. Monologue is the style of autocrats. A leader who does not listen to his people does not believe in democracy. Listening to people’s voices enables the functioning of democracy – where the will of the people is heard by the leader who represents them (in Parliament). In a representative democracy, power ideally lies between the leader and the people. The primary responsibility of a leader is to act on behalf of the people’s demands and wishes. Currently, in India, the people are being asked to act upon the demands and wishes of the prime minister. This is a dangerous overturning of the very idea of democracy. Apart from showing a sincere commitment towards listening to people, Rahul confirmed his commitment to the politics of love, saying he has respect and love for Mayawati. This amicable language – completely missing from Indian politics today – is a welcome gesture. He called Mayawati a “national icon”. This space for mutual respect for political opponents is a good sign.<doc-sep>
Rahul Gandhi told NDTV's Ravish Kumar that the BJP and the RSS were "spreading hatred" Highlights "I learn from everyone, from Narendra Modi, BJP and RSS," he told NDTV Hit out at PM over his understanding of responsibilities "Thinks giving speeches and comments are the PM's job," he added Rahul Gandhi today delivered his critique of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's performance with a jibe on what he had learnt from him. "Narendra Modi-ji has shown me how not to run a country," the Congress president told NDTV's Ravish Kumar in an interview. "If you run the country without listening to what its people have to say, then the country will not function properly," Mr Gandhi said in an interview after a rally in Madhya Pradesh. "I learn from Narendra Modi-ji, from the BJP and the RSS. I also learn from you. I learn from everyone," he said. Targeting the PM over his criticism of Manmohan Singh, who led a Congress government for 10 years until being voted out of power in 2014, Mr Gandhi said, "Narendra Modi thinks giving speeches and comments are the PM's job. But PM's job is to think with strategy. He has no strategy in his work. Manmohan Singh improved the country's economy carefully, strategically. What Manmohan Singh did in the 90s is a part of strategy and a better thinking." Mr Gandhi also claimed he wanted to "destroy his Rahul Gandhi self" so that when he visited a farmer's house, he could learn and fully understand his point of view, rather than have his own voice interfere. PM Modi and Mr Gandhi have regularly traded barbs this election, with the Prime Minister targeting his father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, as "Bhrashtachari No. 1 (Corrupt No. 1)" and the Congress chief hammering away at the BJP government with claims of corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal. Mr Gandhi took aim at the Prime Minister over a number of issues - from the Rafale deal to allegations of EVM malfunctioning in this general election - ultimately returning to the theme that the BJP government under PM Modi had failed to deliver on promises made during the 2014 Lok Sabha election concerning areas like healthcare, education. He said, "We need to provide high quality educational institutions and improve existing institutions in the field of healthcare and education. We will give 22 lakh government jobs to the people within one year and we will do this recruitment transparently". The Congress leader also attacked the ideology of the BJP-RSS combine, characterising it as "spreading hatred" in the country. He said, "Now the people will decide on May 23. I will follow what the people say."