Rahul Gandhi's Poverty Remark Leads to War of Words

Bangalore: In India, poverty and politicians are always a topic of interest to the masses, be it the remarks of Congress leader Raj Babbar that mocked the poor by the 12 food statement or the latest remarks by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi recently christened poverty as something that is ‘just a state of mind’. This remark has once again gone viral and is flooded with criticisms by the countrymen in most of the forums of discussions, especially on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, as reported The Times of India.
The Congress leader uttered this controversial statement while addressing a function on ‘Culture, deepening democracy and most marginalized communities,’ organised by Badri Narayan, a noted social scientist at Allahabad.

Rahul’s observation about poverty as a state of mind did not literally mean scarcity of food, money or material things. But it meant that if one possesses self-confidence, then one can overcome poverty. He also clarified his argument by giving an example of a poor woman in his constituency Amethi, who improved her life, both financially and socially, by getting associated with a self-help group called the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana.

The Congress leader said, "I understand the internal weaknesses of our prevalent system. I will try my level best to help the people, but unless and until the voice of the marginalized comes out from within, nothing can be done. People and the system will always discourage you that you cannot stand on your own feet and this in my opinion is the biggest lie," as reported TOI.

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