Nehru, Ambedkar lived outside India, returned with ideas that transformed nation: Rahul Gandhi

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi who is on a two-week visit to the US on Friday said that Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr Ambedkar lived outside India, and returned with ideas to transform the country.

“Mahatma Gandhi was an NRI, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru came back from England, Dr Ambedkar, Maulana Azad, Sardar Patel- these were all NRIs. Every single one of them went to the outside India, saw the world, returned to India and used some of the ideas they got and transformed India,” he said.

He said that he views India not as a piece of land but as a set of ideas and anybody who has the ideas that make up India is an Indian.

On Wednesday, speaking at an event in New York organised by the Indian National Overseas Congress (INOC), Rahul said India is not just a piece of land but a set of ideas.

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“Some people view India as a geographical construct. They view India as a piece of land. I don’t view India as a piece of land. I view India as a set of ideas. So for me, anybody who has the ideas that make up India is an Indian,” Gandhi said.

“Ideas take time to travel into India. But, when an idea is good, India understands it very quickly, and uses it and shows the world how it can be used,” he added.

Rahul also stressed on the need to establish a network between Universities and businesses to make them compete with rest of the world.

"Our IITs are tremendous institutions but they are not networks. If we connect our IITs to our industries and businesses across the world, they will start to compete with the best businesses in the world. These are things that can be done."