Mumbai: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said that he sometimes thought of quitting politics and that politics has now become more about power rather than social or developmental change.
At an event in Nagpur, Gadkari said: “We need to understand what the word politics means. politics is Socialization: (social work), nationalization (nation building), Development: (development work) or just authorization (power game)?”
He said that in the olden days – from the time of Mahatma Gandhi – politics was part of a social movement. It was more about social work and nation building, he said.
“But now we see 100 percent” Empowerment: (power play),” Gadkari said, adding that politics should be a true instrument of social and economic reform.
The Member of Parliament from Nagpur, who handles central departments like road transport and highways, was speaking at an event to honor social activist and former Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Girish Gandhi.
Gadkari said, ‘When Girish Bhau was in politics, I used to discourage him. I think a lot about when I should leave politics. There are more things to do in life than politics.”
Gandhi, a former MLC of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), left the party in 2014. A close aide of Gadkari, he has since denied joining any other political party.
Gadkari also said that politics is a game of “contradictions, compulsions and limitations”.
“No one knows when it will happen. As they say, anything can happen in politics,” he said.
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