NEW DELHI: In a rare interaction with India Inc, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi unveiled his vision of 21st century India glorifying the country's complexities (which are viewed by industry as obstacles) and its die-hard spirit, but failed to offer any concrete roadmap for the future.
Gandhi, seen as a prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha election, used several anecdotes to illuminate his points, took a veiled dig at Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, and compared India to a "beehive" to talk about the buzz that represented India's dynamism even as he took tentative steps to stamp his presence in this gathering of the country's corporate elite.
"Millions of Indians are brimming with energy. We are now sitting on an unprecedented tide of transformation. This tremendous movement of people and ideas is going to define this country in the 21st century," said the Gandhi scion.
There was huge anticipation about Gandhi's speech. Industrialists began queuing up more than an hour before the event to hear the young leader who has so far shown a preference for the village "choupal" over business chambers.
In his speech, Gandhi positioned himself as an outsider to the system, slamming the political and the educational system for excluding a large section of the population. The fact that he's actually been a part of the ruling dispensation left several in the audience bemused.
"Today we are mortgaging a large part of our future because our education and training is based on defunct ideas and ideas that are no longer relevant," Gandhi said. "Our university structures are closed. They are silos. The university is a network. It has to be connected to the industry."
As he spoke, Gandhi appeared to gain in confidence and India Inc cheered his speech. However, the response on social media was hardly flattering. The top trend on Twitter during Gandhi's speech was #PappuCII.
Gandhi also used the occasion to caution the audience about the dangers of divisive politics which some analysts said was aimed at Modi who has emerged as a strong contender for the PM's job in 2014. "When you play the politics of alienating communities, you stop the movement of people and ideas. When that happens we all suffer. Businesses suffer and the seeds of disharmony are sown and the dreams of our people are severely disrupted," Gandhi said.
In another oblique reference to Modi, he added, "One man riding a horse cannot solve the country's problems. It is a collective effort. The architecture we have to build is to connect the grassroots with the political system, open the political system... It is very dangerous to leave people behind. Inclusive growth is a win-win for everybody."
Putting on an air of informality, Gandhi paced up and down the stage as he answered questions. Many found some of his answers confusing and long winded. "The speech was partly philosophical. He is not in the government. But he clearly spoke as a person who is in the political system," CII president Adi Godrej said.
"Rahul Gandhi's speech reflected that he lives in his own world. He was meant to answer what has happened in the nine years (of UPA rule) but there was no mention of corruption or inflation. Instead of answering questions, he was asking questions. It is a tacit admission that nothing has been done," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.
Gandhi sought industry's help to build the country's infrastructure, saying the government was incapable of doing it alone. "Government cannot build this infrastructure alone. We are incapable of doing it alone. We need your help. It has to be done jointly and together we will find models where capital is used efficiently and without delays," Gandhi said.
The packed hall at a five-star hotel was led by Gandhi on his discovery of India with examples on India's energy, its youth, the journey of young migrants such as Girish from Gorakhpur to Mumbai chasing their dreams, a poor mother's firm belief that her son would become an IAS officer.
But that journey brushed aside the current economic woes of Asia's third-largest economy. There was no mention of India's economic slowdown, rising prices or corruption.
He also shrugged off speculation about his taking over as PM in 2014. "These are irrelevant questions. It's all smoke. I got press guys asking when you are getting married. Somebody else saying, boss, when are you going to be the Prime Minister. Somebody saying, no you are not going to be PM, somebody say may be PM," he said.
At one point Gandhi used CII vice-president Ajay Shriram as a prop to illustrate his interaction with a Chinese official. "The Chinese PM's secretary came up to me and asked me why is everybody worried about China and not India? India is actually much more powerful that it thinks," he said.
He replied to that saying, "India is a decentralised system. Its power is soft, but it is there. Boss, our environment is not simple, we cannot give you simple answers... China is a dragon. India is called an elephant, but we're not an elephant, we're a beehive."
Gandhi, seen as a prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha election, used several anecdotes to illuminate his points, took a veiled dig at Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, and compared India to a "beehive" to talk about the buzz that represented India's dynamism even as he took tentative steps to stamp his presence in this gathering of the country's corporate elite.
"Millions of Indians are brimming with energy. We are now sitting on an unprecedented tide of transformation. This tremendous movement of people and ideas is going to define this country in the 21st century," said the Gandhi scion.
There was huge anticipation about Gandhi's speech. Industrialists began queuing up more than an hour before the event to hear the young leader who has so far shown a preference for the village "choupal" over business chambers.
In his speech, Gandhi positioned himself as an outsider to the system, slamming the political and the educational system for excluding a large section of the population. The fact that he's actually been a part of the ruling dispensation left several in the audience bemused.
"Today we are mortgaging a large part of our future because our education and training is based on defunct ideas and ideas that are no longer relevant," Gandhi said. "Our university structures are closed. They are silos. The university is a network. It has to be connected to the industry."
As he spoke, Gandhi appeared to gain in confidence and India Inc cheered his speech. However, the response on social media was hardly flattering. The top trend on Twitter during Gandhi's speech was #PappuCII.
Gandhi also used the occasion to caution the audience about the dangers of divisive politics which some analysts said was aimed at Modi who has emerged as a strong contender for the PM's job in 2014. "When you play the politics of alienating communities, you stop the movement of people and ideas. When that happens we all suffer. Businesses suffer and the seeds of disharmony are sown and the dreams of our people are severely disrupted," Gandhi said.
In another oblique reference to Modi, he added, "One man riding a horse cannot solve the country's problems. It is a collective effort. The architecture we have to build is to connect the grassroots with the political system, open the political system... It is very dangerous to leave people behind. Inclusive growth is a win-win for everybody."
Putting on an air of informality, Gandhi paced up and down the stage as he answered questions. Many found some of his answers confusing and long winded. "The speech was partly philosophical. He is not in the government. But he clearly spoke as a person who is in the political system," CII president Adi Godrej said.
"Rahul Gandhi's speech reflected that he lives in his own world. He was meant to answer what has happened in the nine years (of UPA rule) but there was no mention of corruption or inflation. Instead of answering questions, he was asking questions. It is a tacit admission that nothing has been done," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.
Gandhi sought industry's help to build the country's infrastructure, saying the government was incapable of doing it alone. "Government cannot build this infrastructure alone. We are incapable of doing it alone. We need your help. It has to be done jointly and together we will find models where capital is used efficiently and without delays," Gandhi said.
The packed hall at a five-star hotel was led by Gandhi on his discovery of India with examples on India's energy, its youth, the journey of young migrants such as Girish from Gorakhpur to Mumbai chasing their dreams, a poor mother's firm belief that her son would become an IAS officer.
But that journey brushed aside the current economic woes of Asia's third-largest economy. There was no mention of India's economic slowdown, rising prices or corruption.
He also shrugged off speculation about his taking over as PM in 2014. "These are irrelevant questions. It's all smoke. I got press guys asking when you are getting married. Somebody else saying, boss, when are you going to be the Prime Minister. Somebody saying, no you are not going to be PM, somebody say may be PM," he said.
At one point Gandhi used CII vice-president Ajay Shriram as a prop to illustrate his interaction with a Chinese official. "The Chinese PM's secretary came up to me and asked me why is everybody worried about China and not India? India is actually much more powerful that it thinks," he said.
He replied to that saying, "India is a decentralised system. Its power is soft, but it is there. Boss, our environment is not simple, we cannot give you simple answers... China is a dragon. India is called an elephant, but we're not an elephant, we're a beehive."
