Princeton: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that notwithstanding the path chosen by them, the performance of India and China, would determine how the world would fundamentally be reshaped.
Gandhi, who was interacting with students at the Princeton University noted that there was "a lot of synergy" between India and the United States.
"There are two large migrations taking place — one is completely free and the other is centrally controlled. The systems respond differently. India and China are two huge countries that are transforming from agricultural countries to urban modern model countries. And that's a huge chunk of the world population," Gandhi said in his interaction at the Princeton University.
"And how these two countries do is going to fundamentally reshape the world. It's not my place to say that China should be democratic or not. They have chosen their path and we have chosen ours," he said.
But there is "cooperation and there is competition" between the two most populous countries of the world. We have to figure out how to get our jobs. We have to basically compete with China," said adding that frankly, India is not doing that well.
China, he said, is entering spaces with One Belt, One Road (OBOR) venture.
"And China has a particular vision of the world. It's very clear. And from their perspective it's a very powerful vision," he said.
Talking of the jobs sector in India, Rahul stated that the target of PM Narendra Modi’s pet project ‘Make in India’ should be different. “Large companies have a role, yet Small-And-Medium industries are where jobs come from. We are not spending enough on education or healthcare but jobs are our biggest challenge, as the numbers are nowhere near where it should be. That is that problem that India has to solve.”
“I like the Make in India concept but my view is that unlike what PM Modi is targeting, that is, large businesses, we should be concentrating on SMEs,” said the Congress leader.
Gandhi also raised a series of questions for India that he sought to be answered.
"Does India has a similar vision? What does that vision look like? How much cooperation is going to be between us and them? These are basically the fundamental questions going forward. But the thing to realise is that China is moving with tremendous power and we have to work with that," he said.
Gandhi said there's a lot of space for cooperation between the United States and India in the creation of jobs and in the education sector.
"So I think a lot of synergy between the two countries.
Also historically India has maintained balance (in relationship). So India has had a relationship with China and has had a relationship with Russia. It has had a relationship with the US and both the countries. To me the strategic relationship with the United States is important," he said.
The scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family underscored the need for a balance (of relationship) in terms of all the other countries.
"But balance is also important in terms of all the other countries. So I would say there is a slight difference between us and the government," Gandhi said in response to a question.
“The problem in India is concentration of power. Good governance is about resisting centralisation of power. The brilliant Parliament sessions took place in the 1950s, when Parliamentarians made laws. Nowadays, we don’t make laws. 1991, though, was an important period when we took some decisions to open up the economy,” said Rahul.
Touching on the Uniform Civil Code, the 47-year-old said, “I leave that to the courts of the country. I have faith in the system.”
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