Corruption, caste holding India back: Rahul

"India is rising, but I want to see it compete successfully with every other country," says the Congress MP.

Admitting that corruption and casteism are holding the country back, Congress parliamentarian Rahul Gandhi says he wants to see India compete successfully with every other country and strive to eradicate poverty.

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"India is rising, but I want to see it compete successfully with every other country, and I want to transform what you see here - poverty," he said in an interview.

Rahul, 35, said it was the killing of his father Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 by a Tamil suicide bomber that made his mind up to enter politics.

"When he died I felt he was doing certain things to modernise the country and he was cut short. What he was doing was on the right track. He was bridging the gap between modern India and traditional India," the Congress MP said.

Referring to the plight of poor people in villages, Rahul said "I would like to help these people have the same living standards you have."

He further said he would like them to have better living standards than in the West. "We're not here to take (British) jobs, we're here to empower ourselves," he said.