Country has "sadly" not seen enough of "interesting" person Rahul Gandhi: Shashi Tharoor
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday said party president Rahul Gandhi is an "interesting" person with a tremendous intellectual curiosity, but the country "sadly" has not seen enough of him.
He was replying to questions from students of the Delhi University's Hindu College at the 'Mushaira Literature Festival' after delivering a lecture in a jam-packed auditorium.
Asked about his opinion about the new party chief, Tharoor said, "Gandhi has grown up with ideas, perspectives, anxieties, and a degree of knowledge and vocabulary base that many of the youths will find congenial."
Gandhi has "thought very deeply about religion and matters of faith. He is a Shiv bhakt and seriously practices Buddhist Vipassana and can talk about differences between various schools of it and Hindu philosophy", he said.
Citing
an
anecdote,
Tharoor
said
when
all
the
political
chatter
was
happening
at
the
time
of
his
elevation
as
the
party's
vice
president
in
Jaipur
in
January
2013,
"Gandhi
was
seen
explaining
a
new
book
released
by
inventor
of
'black
swan
theory'
Nassim
Nicholas
Taleb".
Tharoor
said
Gandhi
"is
an
extremely
interesting
guy
with
a
tremendous
intellectual
curiosity
and
is
extraordinarily
well-read.
I
say
this
because
for
a
couple
of
years
between
my
two
ministerships,
I
sat
directly
behind
him
in
Parliament.
"Everyday we would chat and invariably the subjects he raised were about the books he was reading. That is the kind of the person he is and the rest of the country sadly has not seen it enough," he added.
Tharoor,
a
Lok
Sabha
member,
said
India
was
facing
a
choice
between
two
different
styles
of
leadership.
"On
the
one
hand
we
have
a
one-man-show.
We
have
a
hero
on
a
white
stallion
cantering
down
to
the
appraisal
saying
he
has
all
the
answers
to
all
the
questions.
"On
the
other
hand,
you
got
a
guy
who
says
I
don't
know
all
the
answers
but
I
will
come
to
you
and
listen
and
bring
a
group
of
experienced
people
to
work
together,"
he
said.
Tharoor
also
hit
out
at
the
right-wing
in
the
country
and
said
traditionally
the
idea
of
the
Right
and
Left
emerged
due
to
economic
reasons,
but
today
the
right-wing
was
about
"cultural
nationalism".
Cultural
nationalism,
he
said,
was
about
people
saying
"we
are
more
anchored
in
our
religion
and
authentic
national
identity
and,
therefore,
we
are
the
real
people
of
the
country".
He
said,
"Because
of
such
conviction,
they
make
a
dangerous
mistake
of
identifying
their
party
with
the
government
and
in
turn
with
the
nation.
Therefore,
those
opposing
will
become
anti-national."
The
event
was
organised
by
the
university's
student
newspaper
DU
Beat
and
students'
representative
body
Hindu
College
Parliament.
PTI