I believe that a politician needs to be with people.

We have unleashed aspirations of youngsters. Democracy is not going to go backwards. India is too big a country to be run by one person. We are going to accelerate the process of democratization and I think that is the biggest opportunity for Congress party because that is the DNA of the Congress

All the public systems – administration, justice, education and political are designed to keep people with knowledge out. Such a system promotes mediocrity.

Democracy is about non-arbitrary decisions. Democracy is about spreading decisions; it is not about destroying processes.

India absorbs things; India's not a divisive place.

A rising tide doesn't raise people who don't have a boat. We have to build the boat for them. We have to give them the basic infrastructure to rise with the tide.

Nobody can refuse a person who comes and asks for a job. Nobody can refuse a poor man when he goes and asks for food. Nobody can stop any Indian if he asks a question of his government. This is what the Congress party and the UPA have done over the last 10 years.