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Indian Overseas Congress Chairman Sam Pitroda has hit out at the Union Government, alleging that the conversation by them was centred around hate and not on core issues like education. Pitroda said a reflection of the dissatisfaction with this came out in the form of the protests at Jantar Mantar.
Speaking to ANI from Chicago, Pitroda said, "I think young people have picked up the right cause. But we have to listen to them because their future is at stake. These are our children. This is the future of India. If they don't get good education, if they don't learn to live together, if they don't love each other, there is no future because then there won't be peace. What some of these people are promoting -- hate, religious differences, constant conversation about temples -- is not the answer to India's future. India's future lies in rational, logical, scientific thinking. "India's future lies in respect for other human beings, dignity in our discourse, respect for our women, concern for our children, quality education, affordable education, quality health services, affordable health services, clean water, a better environment and ample energy. Those are the issues. I hardly see any national debate on these issues. We always have to discuss: you said this, I said this, but you were saying this, but what did Hanuman say, or Ram Bhagwan say, or some other fellow said. This is not the way to lead our young generation," he added. Pitroda said that the frustration of the youth was manifesting in this form primarily because the government had muddied the conversation. "The other day, I saw somebody criticising what I said about temples. I said, I would rather create more schools than temples. What's wrong with that? The response from this young man was that Pitroda is anti-religion. What kind of a conclusion is that? Second, he's hurting the sentiments of Hindus. Hindus are not worried about sentiment. You are. Hindus are broad enough. They don't get insulted that easily. You may get insulted. I think the whole environment is pretty muddy. It's difficult to find facts from fiction, lies from truth, hate from love. I'm really worried when I speak to a lot of young people. On one hand, I feel very good that they are finally vocal. They have enough courage to stand up and criticise. They have no fear. They ridicule many issues, and they have found a new way to communicate on Instagram. I admire their way of communicating," he said. "They see writing on the wall. That's why I admire them; that's what I admire about these young people. Things that we could not say, they have said it in a different language. A language of the young. No one thought that Instagram would be used this effectively, within 60-second clips, to communicate a very complicated, broad message," he added. Pitroda further alleged that institutions were collapsing, and an example of that he claimed was the need for Rahul Gandhi to sit in protest to get an FIR registered against the alleged police action on a student during the July 20 protests. "People don't do these things out of fashion. They do them out of frustration. How frustrated these people could be to say these things. Rahul Gandhi had to go register a complaint, an FIR. The truth is, here is a boy who was affected. An FIR should be registered right away. The police didn't want to register an FIR until they heard from the government. This is an example of how the independence of an institution is lost. If the institution was really independent, they would say, doesn't matter which government or Prime Minister; we have to listen to the citizen's complaint and register an FIR. You don't need a Leader of Opposition to sit there for seven hours to register an FIR," he said. Pitroda said the need of the hour was for political parties to understand the expression of the youth. Citing an example, he alleged that the coaching mafia had resulted in education becoming out of reach for many. "We need to understand them. We need to listen to them carefully. We need to focus on their education and quality education, and AI is going to make it more difficult. AI is a big challenge. We haven't done enough. Look at our coaching industry, which essentially didn't exist in my generation. We went to school and college, and they taught us, with maybe a little bit of tuition here and there, but there was no coaching industry. Now it's a bigger industry than our education system. We have created a monster. Why? Because you don't teach in college, you don't teach in school. So children have to go somewhere else. To me, it's a racket. We need children to learn in schools and colleges, not in tuition classes. Nobody is concerned about it," he said. Pitroda slammed the government, alleging that whenever it faced criticism, ministers attacked the person raising questions rather than answer questions. "All kinds of promises are made. What happened to these promises? But whenever you say something, they will attack you at the highest level possible. A group of ministers will jump at you. And they are hypocrites. They are liars. They have no shame," he said. (ANI)
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