Rahul: ‘Authoritarian system’ suppressing voice of nation

New Delhi, Sept. 3: Asserting that the voice of nation is supreme, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said that this voice has been “crushed with an authoritarian system” and the tragedy of politics today is its suppression.

In a video shared on the Congress’s social media handles on Friday, Gandhi talked about his father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s tours and interactions with people from various parts of the country.

“What I remember of my tours with my father was, what was driving the tour was not just connecting with people, it was actually trying to understand their needs and it was about listening to what they were trying to tell him,” the former Congress chief said in

There is this tremendous voice here, but it’s struggling to speak. This voice is, call it God. There’s nothing more than this voice

the about two-and-a-half minute video shot at the Rajiv Gandhi Photo Exhibition organised by the Indian Youth Congress recently.

He said Rajiv Gandhi’s tours were about constantly listening to people and suddenly making a connection with what they were saying to how it can be transformed with an instrument.

It was a journey where Rajiv Gandhi would go, listen and then go and look around to find instruments that can transform the voice of this nation that he was hearing, Rahul Gandhi said.

“There is this tremendous voice here, but it’s struggling to speak. This voice is, call it God. There’s nothing more than this voice. It’s not a singular voice. It is millions and millions of voices that speak together, have huge power when they speak and a tremendous amount of nuance,” Gandhi said.

The Congress leader said the tragedy of politics of today is that, in a world of media, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, the voice of the nation is basically suppressed.

— Rahul Gandhi, Cong leader