Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) chief Sam Pitroda on Sunday (September 8) emphatically stated that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was 'no Papu' and was in fact a 'visionary leader' and a 'strategist' Pitroda was talking at a diaspora event in Texas. Rahul Gandhi is currently in the United States.
"He (Rahul Gandhi) has a vision contrary to what BJP promotes by spending crores of rupees. I must tell you, he is no Pappu. He is highly educated, well-read, a strategist with deep thinking on any subject and sometimes it is not very easy to understand him," said Pitroda as he addressed those present at the event.
'Pappu' is a derogatory term associated with Gandhi often by the members and even top leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to suggest that he has no political acumen and thus, has no place in public life. Gandhi's several political gaffes in past have led to a certain strengthening of this notion.
In addition to this, several top BJP leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, have called Gandhi a 'Shehzada', apparently attempting to suggest that he was born with a silver spoon and was given top posts in the Congress party just because he was from the Gandhi family.
During his speech in Texas, Pitroda expressed frustration at the religious polarisation in the country.
"Rahul Gandhi has a different agenda which is more focused on something that we have been trying to address for a long time but have not been able to quite address well and that is inclusion, celebration of diversity..," he said.
Pitroda said democracy could not be taken for granted and that to protect it, a lot of work was required.
"Democracy is not that simple... Democracy requires work from large number of people like us. We can't take it for granted because there are people who are focused on hijacking democracy. We have seen it in many countries... At the time of independence, there was this fervor about independence movement and the leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Maulana Azad, Sardar Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose were very clear of the kind of nation they wanted to build. Everyone understood what freedom meant and the opportunities free India would create... I want you to join Indian Overseas Congress, improve quality of our activities, quantity of our members and bring in more diverse group of people," he said.
