Hyderabad: Pitching for change in politics, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi urged the global leaders to replace lenses of ha-tred, fear, and anger with those of love, affection and listening.

Delivering his address at the first Bharat Summit held in the city, Rahul Gandhi said that the greatest and most powerful disruption to hatred is the idea of love and affection. “While we may disagree on policy matters, the framework that we use and the lens we use for our poli-tics must be love, affection and listening to the people that we repre-sent. I am confident this summit will help build the ideas we need for a new kind of politics in India and the world,” he wished.

Bringing to the notice of global leaders during this ‘world’s biggest gathering of progressives’, the senior Congress leader said that his 4,000-km long walkathon taught him crucial lessons of life. During his journey from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, he tried to answer the changing dynamics of modern politics which he had come across after deciding to be part of active politics some two decades back. “Our opponents have a monopoly on anger, fear and hatred. Building a counter narrative was impossible and speaking became harder and harder. But during the yatra, I discovered the transformative power of listening. I spoke less and listened more, and that changed everything and love as a narrative started,” he explained.

Rahul Gandhi further said that while their (opponents) political lens remained hatred, the lens adopted by progressive forces should be love, affection, and deep listening.

He also shared a moving story of a woman who joined the yatra despite fears of domestic violence, high-lighting the importance of genuinely hearing people's struggles.

“Our opposition believes they know all the answers. But it is the people who know what needs to be done and we must listen carefully.

Until the yatra, I had never used the word ‘love’ in politics. But once I did, people began to respond.