Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said “it was good news” that the film “Kerala Story-2 Goes Beyond” was not widely watched.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha was interacting with students at Marian College in Kuttikkanam.
Responding to a student’s question about films being used as propaganda, Gandhi shared his views on ‘Kerala Story-2 Goes Beyond’.
“Though the good news is that ‘Kerala Story’ seems empty and no one is following it. It also shows that there are people, most of them, who have not understood what Kerala is and its tradition and culture,” he said.
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According to Rahul, films, television and media are increasingly “weaponised”.
“It is used for exactly this purpose – to vilify people, eliminate them and create divisions in society so that some people benefit while others are harmed. India has become very similar,” he said.
He said that such developments are extremely harmful to the country and huge sums of money are being spent for the purpose.
Talking about his personal interests, he said that he reads a lot about topics he wants to learn about, but doesn’t watch a lot of movies.
“As hobbies, I like to play chess and do martial arts. I swim, run and exercise to keep fit,” he said.
Rahul said that though he represented Kerala in Parliament for five years, he could not fully understand the state in depth, but he learned a lot from the people of Wayanad.
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“I was very surprised when I first arrived there. There was a big landslide that claimed several lives, but I was impressed by how people responded. Even after such a tragedy, they helped others. It didn’t matter what community or financial background one belonged to,” he said.
He said that Kerala has very old and valuable traditions and advised the students to remain rooted in the state’s culture while learning from other places.
Gandhi also argued that the education system of the country was under the pressure of a certain ideology.
“If you look at the vice-chancellors in universities, a large number of them have been appointed simply because they are part of the RSS or a particular ideology. There is an ideological pressure on the education system. Education should not be limited to any particular way of thinking, especially not the divisive view of the RSS,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi on AI
When it comes to artificial intelligence, Rahul said India is yet to reach the level of the United States or China.
“At the AI summit, there was a Chinese robot masquerading as an Indian robot,” he said.
He said if India wants to be powerful in AI, it should be in control of its own data.
He argued that while the United States has access to global data, China controls its own data, strengthening its position in AI.
“The recent deal with the US handed over all our data to America. US companies can keep Indian data wherever they want and it won’t be taxed. So we have damaged our AI potential in the last few weeks,” he said.
On the ongoing conflict in West Asia, Gandhi said that on the surface it appeared to be a war involving the United States and Israel against Iran, but the bigger geopolitical players were the US, China and Russia.
“The US is trying to ensure that it remains the dominant superpower while China is closing in. That’s the bigger picture,” he said.
He added that the Middle East is the center of global energy production and conflicts there have wider implications.
“Even India is paying the price of war directly because of our dependence on energy from the Middle East,” he said.
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Rahul said that India’s strength lies in its diversity, adding that along with controlling its data and increasing its manufacturing capacity, the country could become a global powerhouse.
“The path we are on now is one where people are forced to fight each other – religion against religion, language against language, caste against caste. We are not producing enough and we are giving our biggest asset, which is data, to the US,” he said.
When asked about politics as a profession, Gandhi said that being a politician is a difficult job if one tries to do it sincerely.
“If you want to do it seriously and have a value system, it’s a very difficult job. You should be prepared to suffer a lot if you’re doing it for the right reason. If you’re doing it for the wrong reason, it’s easy,” he said.
Along with Congress MPs KC Venugopal and Dean Kuriakos, he also tried a few steps of Kalaripayattu, a traditional martial art form of Kerala, with a college student.
He said martial arts are often seen as a form of self-defense, but they are also a way to understand yourself.
“It’s about discovering yourself and understanding how you react to different situations. It’s very powerful. They say Kalari is the mother of all martial arts. Kalari requires flexibility and I’m not that flexible,” he said.
