London: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the party had learnt a lesson from the debacle in the 2014 general elections, admitting that “a certain degree of arrogance” had crept into it after 10 years of power.
Answering a question after his address at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, Gandhi said, “You have to listen — leadership is all about learning.”
“A certain degree of arrogance had crept into Congress after 10 years of power and we have learnt a lesson,” Gandhi said when asked what was the lesson his party learnt from the 2014 election debacle.
Noting that India can punch above its weight only by creating jobs, Gandhi said India has a “job crisis”. He said while China produces 50,000 jobs every 24 hours, India produces 450 jobs during the same period.
“How can India punch above its weight when you ignore fundamentals. You do not support your agriculture sector. If you look at India's success, it is achieved when there is decentralisation. Best rulers in India and most successful rulers in India decentralised power,” Gandhi said.
For the last 70 years, it is through decentralisation that India achieved success and cited examples of Green Revolution, White Revolution and Telecom Revolution, he said. “When India opens up, India's power surges. But during the last four years (of the Modi government) there is a massive centralisation of power,” Gandhi claimed.
The Congress president said, “Broadly, India has been in transition for the last 70 years — a rural country, a country locked in its villages has transformed using democratic principles.”
Noting that India has succeeded in a decent measure, he said “our transformation has been through non-violent, peaceful manner ensuring that the benefits of these transformation will go to all Indians, all communities - nobody will be left out”.
Gandhi said the governments till 2014 believed in supporting the farmers and other weaker sections of the society. They were helped through farm loan waivers, guaranteed work programme, right to food programme and right to information. “These were all structured, designed to help people, ease people of the pain of transformation,” he added.
The Congress lost the 2014 general elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party after 10 years in power. The party won 44 seats as compared to the BJP's 282 in Lok Sabha.
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