Talking about his remarks on the Ordinance on convicted lawmakers, All India Congress Committee vice-president Rahul Gandhi confessed on Thursday that being a young person he might have used strong words but the sentiments he felt were honest. “Even my mother (Sonia Gandhi) told me that the words I used were wrong,” said the scion of Gandhi family who ridiculed the Ordinance as “nonsense” and it should be “torn up and thrown away”.
Rahul, during his informal session with select mediapersons, opined that most of the institutions in the country are not being run democratically and emphasised on the need for decentralisation of power at every level. Replying a question on withdrawal of the Ordinance on lawmakers after it was passed by the Union Cabinet, Gandhi said he listened to his heart and gave voice to his opinion, which is his fundamental right. Everyone in the party agreed to it, he said.
“In our country hardly 1,000 people decide who would go to the lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. Few people in the Congress decide about the allocation of tickets during elections and in the case of the BJP, even fewer people are decision-makers. Same is the case with other political parties,” he said, adding that he was trying to redesign the structure to include more people in the decision-making process.
He said that very few people are running our country at every level. Decisions that should be taken at local levels, are being taken by Chief Ministers, he said, adding that his party is committed to bring change in the system. “Rajiv Gandhi tried to work in the direction of decentralisation. He could also bring telecom revolution.”
Rahul also indicated to focus on youth and said that new generation is being inducted in the party at the same time he is not against the party’s veteran leaders.
Explaining his purpose of visiting Gujarat, the AICC vice-president said that he wanted to understand the feeling of Congress workers in Gujarat. In front of all the senior State leaders including State Congress president Arjun Modhvadia, leader of Opposition Shankersinh Vaghela, Shaktisinh Gohil and others, he confessed that the Congress is not being defeated by the BJP in Gujarat but factionalism within the party causing all sorts of problems and as result of it the Congress loses elections in the State.