Nov 25 (HT): Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s style of governance, saying India could be transformed only if the poor are included in the process.

He targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government for cutting expenditure on education and healthcare and for not delivering on its promise of creating jobs, and said – in a jibe at Modi – that “one man” alone could not bring about a transformation.

Highlights of what Rahul said at Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru:

# I realised that essentially this institute not only gives you knowledge but it also preaches tolerance.

# What I have learned in politics is that you have to learn from people around you, you have to appreciate their thoughts.

# When I first came to politics, I was convinced that solutions to India’s problems are simple.

# I’ve come to a conclusion that if you want to achieve anything in life, you have to listen and appreciate people around you.

# The single biggest problem in this country is that women don’t get the place they deserve, they are mistreated.

# Probably because I have my mother, sister and grandmother to learn a lot from, I feel close to women.

# For me, all of you, every single one of you is beautiful and needs to be respected. That is what I fight for.

# The thing about us is that even if we don’t agree with someone’s ideas, we give them space to talk.