Covid-19 provides opportunity for new imagination: Rahul Gandhi

In video series 'Conversation with Rahul Gandhi', the Congress leader held a talk with Nobel laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus on Friday. He called the coronavirus crisis, an opportunity to bring new imagination into the fore.

New Delhi:Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a conversation with Nobel laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus on Friday called coronavirus pandemic as an "opportunity" to bring new imagination for rebuilding the structure of a nation.

"I think, if you don't come out of Corona with new imagination, you've missed a huge opportunity both as an individual and as a nation," said Gandhi while speaking over the ways to tackle this crisis.

He further added, "I think what Corona is telling you is that what you have been doing so far is problematic. Start with a blank page and with a new imagination. Of course, you can't make a jump like that in governments but at least the mind should go there and then the rest of Institutions and other things will follow."

When asked about the next generation in India and their ideas about a nation, the Congress leader replied, "In India, there's a clear feeling that something has gone very wrong and that feeling is particularly in the young generation. Here, the most difference is in between the rich and poor, which is just astronomical, so that disturbs people. Some new imagination is required and that is what we are working on as an opposition to flesh out what new images would look like."

He also accused the Central Government of not injecting direct cash to the accounts of poor people during the COVID crisis. He alleged, "The immediate issue in India was migrants issue. Micro entrepreneurs who suddenly found themselves stranded and they are forced to go back to their village. So, the first aspect was to look after those people immediately, but the government has a different view. They didn't feel it was necessary."

Calling micro-entrepreneurs as the "biggest assets" of a country, Gandhi asserted over the need of rural economy, restructuring of education and healthcare system. He also mentioned about Mahatma Gandhi's idea of the rural economy. To this Prof Yunus replied, "We followed the Western way of the economic system. So, we didn't think about the vibrant capacity of the people of countries like India and Bangladesh. They have a tremendous tenacity to do things in a very creative way, but that has to be admired and supported. However, the government stayed away."

"Rural economy has become an appendix to the urban economy. A traditional western way of looking at the urban economy is the hub of activities while the rural economy is the supplier of labour," he further added.

While discussing the "political reality", Gandhi asked Prof Yunus how to "defend" such institutions like Grameen Bank when the central government is "attacking" them, to which he replied, "Some institutions like the government has tremendous power to destroy things and push things away from the action. But if you are doing something for people, no matter how powerful you are, it's a temporary dislocation and it will come back."

Prof Yunus also asserted that coronavirus has given people a chance to reflect on fighting challenges that come our way. He said, "Coronavirus has given us a respite, a window of thinking and we have a choice now whether we go to the terrible world which is going to destroy itself anyway, or we go someplace else which can build a new world, where there will be no global warming, no wealth concentration, no unemployment."

The interaction was a part of Congress' video series 'Conversation with Rahul Gandhi'. Prior to this, the Congress leader had spoken also to Indian nurses working across the globe, Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director of Bajaj industries, Professor Ashish Jha, a globally recognized public health professional, Professor Johan Giesecke, the renowned Swedish epidemiologist, Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee and former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan.