Rahul Gandhi meets students to have "Open Conversation" on poll manifesto

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has put out a video on Twitter of his interaction with students, telling them that he would incorporate issues raised by them in Congress' poll manifesto.

"I met a group of really interesting students from all over India, for dinner a few days ago. I learnt a lot from the wonderful exchange of ideas & perspectives. Here's a short video with the highlights of our interaction," he wrote on the micro-blogging site, using #ApniBaatRahulKeSaath.

Mr Gandhi described the new initiative as first-of-its-kind.

"I am Rahul Gandhi and I am president of the Congress party and I am a member of Parliament from Amethi. I thought I will have a chat with some young people and get a sense of what they are thinking," he is heard telling the students in the video as he introduces himself to them.

"We are building our manifesto. What we are doing is that we are having an open conversation about our manifesto. I will put you in touch with the guys who are doing the manifesto. You will see that I will push these things in the manifesto," Mr Gandhi told the students after the interaction.

@RahulGandhi
I met a group of really interesting students from all over India, for dinner a few days ago. I learnt a lot from the wonderful exchange of ideas & perspectives. Here's a short video with the highlights of our interaction.#ApniBaatRahulKeSaath

To a question on the 10 per cent reservation for the upper-class poor, he said, "The bottom line of India today is that there are no jobs. So you can reserve anything you want."

China was producing 50,000 jobs every 24 hours, whereas India was producing only 450, Mr Gandhi said, adding, "We are facing a massive crisis."

To another question on the Narendra Modi government, he said, "The basic idea of this government is to control. That means you want to control the Supreme Court, you want to control the Election Commission, you want to control the VCs (vice chancellors of universities), you want to control everything. That is the problem."

The Congress chief intends to hold similar interactions with students from across the country in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election this year, seeking to touch base with the younger generation.

-PTI