Gudalur (Tamil Nadu)

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday called for developing India into a nation where citizens respect each other's languages, cultures and religion.

Addressing the gathering of students and teachers at the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the St. Thomas English High School in Gudalur, Tamil Nadu, Rahul Gandhi asked schools to turn information in the age of artificial intelligence into knowledge and wisdom.

He said, "We hear about the IT revolution, AI and data every day, and we hear that this is the information age where information is freely available and accessible. But the job of a school like this is to create people who are able to look at information, turn that information into knowledge and even more importantly, behave with wisdom."

Further, he emphasised on schools in creating "wise citizens" in the information age.

"Because in the information age, if we don't have wisdom and are carried away only by information, the world will become a very unpleasant place. So schools like this have a very important role, because they turn young students into wise citizens," he added.

Rahul Gandhi said, "I asked (students) why do you consider Alice ma'am a good teacher? And they immediately answered, she listens to us, she treats us with love and affection, and that is exactly my fight. I want to help develop an India where people are kind to each other, where people listen to each other, respect each other's languages, cultures and religion."

The Congress leader asked the students and politicians to have humility.

"I asked students here, and they said they want to be doctors or pilots in the air force, but nobody said a politician. In my 20 years (of career), I have concluded that the most important value for a politician, student or teacher is humility," Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi's visit to Tamil Nadu comes in the backdrop of the state assembly elections to be held in 2026.

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The politics in the state have heated up amid a triangular contest between the ruling DMK-Congress alliance, the BJP-AIADMK-led alliance and the debutant actor-turned-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Khazhagam (TVK).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also visit Tamil Nadu on January 23.