Rahul: Yes, I am asking you a question, it is a conversation Arnab: Because I like and enjoy being a journalist, it is a professional challen

ge for me. My question is you avoiding a direct face-off with Mr. Narendra Modi?

Rahul: I am going to answer the question but I just want to ask you, when you we re young and thought of being a journalist what drove you? Arnab: Once I decided to become a journalist, I can't be half a journalist. Once you have decided to get into politics and you are leading your party effectivel y, you can't be leading your party by half, so I'll throw the question, with res pect, back to you, Narendra Modi is challenging you on a daily basis? Rahul: You are not answering my question, but I will answer the question and tha t will give you some insight into how Rahul Gandhi thinks. For that I will have to expand a little bit about my growing up, how I grew up and the circumstances in which I grew up. What I saw when I was a child ,was my father, who was a pilo t, and because of circumstances was thrown into the political system and all I s aw when was small after my grandmother died was my father in constant-constant c ombat with the system in India and then I saw him die actually. In my life I hav e seen my grandmother die, I have seen my father die, I have seen my grandmother go to jail and I have actually been through a tremendous amount of pain as a ch ild when these things happen to you, what I had to scared of I lost, there is ab solutely nothing I am scared of. I have an aim, I have a clear aim in my mind an d the aim is that I do not like what I see in Indian politics, it is something t hat is inside my heart. It is like in our mythology when they talk about Arjun, he only sees one thing, he does not see anything else, you asked me about Mr. Mo di you ask me about anything and the thing that I see is that the system in this country needs to change, I don't see anything else and I am blind to everything else. I am blind because I saw people I love destroyed by the system. I am blin d because the system everyday is unfair to our people, I ask you today, you come from Assam and I am sure that you also in your work feel the unfairness of the system. The system everyday-everyday hurts people and I have felt the pain that the system can cause. I felt the pain with my father, I saw him every single day of his life, so the question of whether I am afraid of losing an election or wh ether I am afraid of Mr. Modi is not actually the point. I am here basically for one thing, I see tremendous energy in this country, I see more energy in this c ountry than any other country, I see billions of youngsters and I see this energ y is trapped.

Arnab: Can I draw you back to my question. I will go into those areas and I resp ect what you are telling me about your personal journey, It's not Rahul, as if I lack empathy for what you are saying, in fact I am pretty sure many people do b ut my question to you is Narendra Modi calls you a Shehzada, now let's be very s pecific Rahul. Narendra Modi calls you a Shehzada, a) what is your view of Naren dra Modi b) are you afraid of losing to Narendra Modi, Rahul please answer my qu estion as specifically as you can? Rahul: What Rahul Gandhi wants to do, is Rahul Gandhi and millions of youngsters in this country want to change the way the system in this country works. What R ahul Gandhi wants to do is empower the women in this country, wants to unleash t he power of these women, I mean we talk about being a superpower... Arnab: You are avoiding the question Rahul: No I am not avoiding the question

Arnab: My question to you is, what is the Congress Vice President's view of the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Rahul: I think we will defeat the BJP in the next elections Arnab: And what is your view of BJP's prime ministerial candidate? Rahul: The BJP has prime ministerial candidate, the BJP believes in concentratio n of power in the hands of one person, I fundamentally disagree with that, I bel ieve in democracy, I believe in opening up the system. I believe in the RTI, I b elieve in giving power to our people. We have fundamentally different philosophi es Arnab: What is your view, would like to expound your views, your PM accuses Nare ndra Modi in his press conference of presiding over "the mass massacre of innoce nt citizens on the streets of Ahmedabad." Mr. Rahul Gandhi my question to you is this, do you agree with your PM when he says that? Rahul: Well, I mean what the Prime Minister is saying is a fact, Gujarat happene d, people died but the real issue as far I am concerned... Arnab: How do you accuse Mr. Narendra Modi of it? Rahul: Gujarat happened, people died. The real issue at hand here is... Arnab: How is Mr. Modi responsible? Rahul: He was CM when Gujarat happened