Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi at Mount Carmel College.
An open letter posted on Facebook by a young student of Bengaluru's Mount Carmel College, giving an account of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's interaction with the students on Tuesday, has gone viral.
The student, Elixir Nahar, contends that too much was made of the moment when some students contradicted Mr Gandhi on the question of Prime Minister's Narendra Modi's flagship Clean India and Make in India initiatives.
To his critics, she focused on the positive aspects of the interaction, Mr Gandhi's candour and positive outlook.
During the interaction session, many students had responded with a "yes" when Mr Gandhi asked if both initiatives of the government were working, leaving the Congress leader in some discomfiture.
The reports of the event, Ms Nahar wrote, left her "appalled". Giving her version of the exchange, she wrote:
"Do you think Swachh Bharat is working?"
"YES/NO"
"Really?"
"NO/YES!"
"Ok. I don't think it's working"
And
"Do you think Make in India is working?"
"YES/NO"
"Then do you think more jobs are being created?"
"NO (Majority)"
The consequence, she said, was that the central government "seemed to be having a field day, making suggestive statements of the youth siding with them and not Congress".
"All I can say is that the majority of youth will go wherever they feel safe, where their opinions are heard, where there is tolerance and where women feel comfortable. They will side with someone who makes sure secular is not just another word in the dictionary, but a way of life once again," she added.