India a soft power unlike China: Rahul Gandhi

Mumbai: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday interacted with B-school students of the prestigious Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) here.

When asked about China, Gandhi said the Asian Communist giant is more powerful and economically stronger, but it grabs and pulls you as it is a centralised economy.

On the other hand, India's power is never about the military, but about ideas with which we make the other person turn around to our perspective.

"It's pretty clear that China today is more powerful and economically stronger. China's power is centralised. China grabs you and you can see the power it has. India is decentralised. It grabs you and you don't see India's power."

"India's power has never been military. It has come from the strength of ideas," the Congress leader said.

"We are a soft power... and not a threat to the world."

But, he said for all its growth, now at 11 percent, China paid a price with many people dying, but not in India with a nine percent growth.

"China has paid a huge price for what they have achieved. Millions of people paid for that with their lives. In India we didn't kill millions of people," he said.