Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi sparked a debate with a unique engineering analogy while interacting with students at EIA University in Medellin, Colombia.
“Why does a motorcycle weigh 100 kilos and a car weighs 3,000 (kilos)?” Gandhi asked the students, further explaining, “To carry one passenger, you need 3,000 kilos of metal in a car if one passenger is driving a car. And a motorcycle has 100 kilos, carries two passengers. So why is a motorcycle able to carry two passengers with 150 kilos of metal and a car needs 3,000?”
Gandhi linked the question to the transition from conventional fuel vehicles to electric vehicles. When an audience member attempted to answer, he clarified, “The answer is it's the engine, because it's the engine that kills you on impact. Right? And the motorcycle is light because the engine disappears from you when you have an accident. Right?”
He elaborated, “In a motorcycle, when you have an impact, the engine is separated from you. So the engine doesn't hurt you. Whereas in a car, when you have an impact, the engine comes into the car. So the entire car is designed to stop the engine from killing you. The electric motor breaks that centralised energy system.”
Gandhi’s analogy quickly became a target for the BJP, with the party questioning why universities invite him to speak. “From Harley-Davidson to Toyota and from Volkswagen to Ford, mechanical engineers must be beating their chests after listening to an amazing engineering gyan that he gave,” said BJP MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi at a press conference on Friday.
Trivedi accused Gandhi of misunderstanding basic mechanics. “In his video, Rahul Gandhi incorrectly equated decentralisation in four-wheel drive vehicles with two-wheelers, falsely explaining engine separation during an accident and equating it with components connected through bolts,” he said, adding sarcastically, “It is as if Gandhi believes that everything in India will fall apart in a similar manner.”
Highlighting other Congress intellectuals, Trivedi questioned Gandhi’s selection: “There are many people (in the Congress) who are experts in their subjects, including his uncle Sam Pitroda, who permanently lives abroad and has an image of an intellectual.”
