Rahul Gandhi Urges Students to Question One’s Ideas

 

Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi came, addressed and in many ways further scripted a new era for the entire spectrum of politics in UP. Each and every time he delves upon the subject, his innermost thought about that particular topic gets unfolded threadbare. One of the best things about his personality is that he never tries to give sermon or impose his thought on others. He never boasts of having invented some philosophy or knowledge. He does only one thing that is to give emphasis on the truth and what is written over the years and tried and tested time and again. And in doing so, he bares his heart for all. This is why common people, especially youth, get engrossed in rapt attention while listening to his speech word by word. His deportment and eagerness to mingle with the common people and down to earth approach towards the problems that people in general face comes him nearer to the people. It explains the meteoric rise of him in the politics of India. When he tells the students of IIIT at convocation in Amethi that one must develop the habit of questioning one’s thought and ideas because it gives one the broader perspectives, it shows how much he yearns for his fellow countrymen to develop a sense of reconciliation and forgiveness and shed one’s ego while dealing with the other fellowmen of different caste, class, creed and colour. Besides, the habit of questioning one’s ideas and thought also inspires one to listen to other’s thought and ideas. He candidly admitted before the IIIT students that he found a huge difference between what he had thought when he was in US and what he thought today. “I am still passionate about my ideas. But there is huge difference between what I viewed when I sat in US and what I view today……… I must tell you there is a huge difference. When I sat there I used to think that all the answers I had to the problems. But the answer was so obvious. Today when I realize that the most important thing one has to do is to question one’s ideas.” He further said, “when I am most certain about something…. and when I am 100% sure that the things are going like this way, it then turns out to be another way. That’s why the most important thing from my perspective is the ability to question oneself.” Elaborating further on the knowledge, he said “knowledge is created by the destruction of knowledge. A lot of ideas that I held earlier and that I thought very important are today destroyed. I don’t believe in those ones any more. They have been replaced by new ones.

I am absolutely certain that some of the ideas that I hold today will be destroyed in the days to come. And it is good thing.” The thoughts he put before the world about his ideas make him clearly distinct among his political ilk and bear out the evidence that how he is forward-looking in his approach towards any problem. He is like a running river which flows and gives life to its dependents. Without shying away from admitting the frailties of human being, he said “none of us can be all mighty God. We do not have eternal knowledge or understanding. Life is moving forward constantly. If we do not develop the habit of questioning ourselves, it is very likely that we become laggard in the days to come.” He urged the students there to move forward by developing the very ideas of questioning oneself. He shared his experience with them saying “being able to travel the country far and wide and interacting with the lot of people ranging from poor people, farmers, engineers, doctors, I see today the multiple perspectives. And what I realized after started meeting with them is that I learnt every point of view important. Knowledge is not the preserve of any person.” Having obtained degree you can not claim that you are more knowledgeable person than your other countrymen who can be farmer. You are quite efficient in IT but when it comes to cultivation, it is the farmer who can teach you how to cultivate. So, knowledge resides closure to where the problem is, he said. It clearly establishes how much humility he has and the honour he gives to his fellow countrymen, no matter how lowly their profession may be.}

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