Rahul Gandhi giving an interview in Columbia.
Funny enough, he does have an interesting point about how industries and great powers evolve. He said that Great British was number one when it was the driver of the steam revolution. America is number one when it was the driver of the combustion engine revolution. Today, China is the driver of the electric motor and batteries revolution.
What Rahul Gandhi is dead wrong is that he is way too optimistic for India and he sees China as an authoritarian nemesis. He wants India to gang up with the West and compete against China in manufacturing. He doesn't want to learn from China, citing that India and the West must figure out a "democratic" way of industrial policy, not China's"authoritarian model. That kind of ideological statement is gonna doom India's industrial dreams. When China was growing, it had worked closely, and learned from the industrial leaders in the West and Japan. China is now the no. 1 industrial power on earth. If India continues to be China's enemy, then India is likely to go the way of the Soviet Union. So Rahul Gandhi is not gonna bring India forwards too.
Rahul Gandhi is proud that India is a very diverse nation with no common language, held together by "democracy". He says that China is only united because it had suppressed diversity. All I can say is that he should be careful about saying that. First of all, it's is a great myth that China crushes diversity. Second, a nation like India, so diverse, yet only held together by administration is actually very vulnerable to fragmentation.
The moment India gets incompetent and divisive leadership like Modi and his BJP, that's when the fragmentation becomes more active. Without foreign agitation, the fragmentation will take some time. But if India does something really stupid like provoking conflict with bigger powers, then the fragmentation could accelerate. Today, people in the North East, Khalistan, South Tibet, Ladakh, and South India are making noises for increased self-determination. Reality is not looking very rosy for India. And Rahul Gandhi and the Congress are not India's answer to move forward.