Congress to air Rahul Gandhi's conversation with Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's dialogue with renowned Bangladeshi economist and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will be aired on his YouTube channel on Friday in which they will be seen discussing ideas that could re-shape the post pandemic world and delving into limitations of adopting a western economic model, the party said.

In the latest episode of conversations that the Congress leader has been holding on the coronavirus pandemic, Gandhi and the Grameen Bank founder will challenge the wisdom of pushing millions to migrate to urban areas, and examine the role of technology in fuelling an economic revolution in rural areas, it said.

Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the world over, the coronavirus pandemic has exposed serious fault lines in societies and the glaring inequalities that aggravated the crisis.

"Even as conventional economic wisdom draws criticism, there is a growing global movement calling for alternative models of development, especially in developing countries," he said in a statement.

"The pandemic provides a window of opportunity to fundamentally reimagine the future we want and push bold decisions in that direction," Surjewala said.

Giving a preview of the conversation, he said Gandhi and Yunus will be seen discussing the big bold ideas that could re-shape the post pandemic world.

"They delve into limitations of adopting a western economic model and call for a new vision that leverages on the strength of our rural economy and the informal sector," he said.

"One of the pioneers of microlending, Muhammad Yunus shares valuable lessons on financial empowerment and what it takes to support micro-entrepreneurs among some of the most vulnerable social groups around the world," Surjewala said, giving a peek into the discussion that will be aired on Gandhi's YouTube channel on Thursday morning.

Gandhi's last conversation was with four Indian nurses working in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and India during which they shared their experience of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of his dialogues with various experts, Gandhi has spoken to leading global economists Raghuram Rajan and Abhijit Banerjee, internationally renowned epidemiologist Johann Giesceke, global public health expert Ashish Jha, Indian industrialist Rajiv Bajaj, and former US diplomat Nicholas Burns.