Rahul Gandhi in US

I.S. Saluja

NEW YORK (TIP): On his first visit abroad after being disqualified from the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi spoke candidly on a number of national and international issues at a number of events which included a National Press Club appearance in Washington, D.C. , meetings with students at universities, and with the public in California and Washington D.C.
On a six-day visit to the US, Rahul Gandhi was in California on May 30 and 31 on the first leg of his tour where he spoke at the ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ event organized by Indian Overseas Congress USA in Santa Clara on Tuesday, May 30.
On May 31, he held interactions with Silicon Valley AI experts and startup entrepreneurs.
Rahul Gandhi was in Washington, D.C. on June 1 and 2 where he appeared at a number of events including the National Press Club appearance , held meetings with students, business and trade representatives, the Indian Diaspora organizations and with US lawmakers.
He would arrive in New York on June 3 on the last leg of his tour where the Indian Overseas Congress USA has planned a huge public meeting at the Javits Center in Manhattan on Sunday, June 4, and before that, on June 3, a dinner has been organized where Rahul Gandhi will meet people in an informal setting.
During his stay in New York, he will be meeting with representatives of various organizations and have interactions with a number of delegations . He will also speak to students.

Indian Overseas Congress chairperson Sam Pitroda said Gandhi’s visit is aimed at promoting shared values and a vision of “real democracy”.

“The purpose of his (Gandhi’s) trip is to connect, interact and begin a new conversation with various individuals, institutions and media, including the Indian diaspora that is growing in numbers in the United States and abroad to promote the shared values and vision of the real democracy with a focus on freedom, inclusion, sustainability, justice, peace and opportunities world over,” Pitroda said in a statement on Sunday, May 28. The Indian Panorama brings you below the media coverage of Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the US from May 30 to June 2, 2023.

BJP can be defeated if Opposition is ‘aligned properly’: Rahul Gandhi

SANTA CLARA, CA (TIP): The ruling BJP can be defeated if the Opposition is “aligned properly” and the Congress party is working towards it and it is “coming along very nicely”, Rahul Gandhi has told Indian Americans here, citing his party’s emphatic victory in the recent assembly elections in Karnataka.

Responding to questions from the moderator and the audiences at an event at the Silicon Valley Campus of the University of California in Santa Cruz on Tuesday, Gandhi said he can clearly see “vulnerabilities” in the BJP.

“As a political entrepreneur, I can clearly see vulnerabilities in the BJP… The BJP can be defeated if the Opposition is aligned properly,” he said.

“If you look at the Karnataka elections, the general sense is that the Congress Party fought the BJP and defeated the BJP. But what is not well understood is the mechanics that we used,” he said.

The Congress party used a completely different approach to fighting an election and building a narrative, Gandhi said, adding that elements of what happened in Karnataka came out of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.

In the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, the Congress won 135 seats, while incumbent BJP and the former prime minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) got 66 and 19, respectively.

Gandhi said in the Karnataka elections, the BJP spent 10 times more money than the Congress party.

He said the country needed an alternative vision to defeat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in addition to having a united Opposition in the 2024 general elections.

“On the matter of opposition unity, we are working towards it and it is coming along very nicely. But I think in order to defeat the BJP, you need more than just opposition unity. Just opposition unity, in my opinion, is not going to be enough to do the job. I think you need an alternative vision to the BJP,” he said.

“Part of Bharat Jodo Yatra was the first step in proposing such a vision. It’s the vision that all opposition parties are aligned with. No opposition party would disagree with the idea of the Bharat Jodo Yatra,” he said.

Bharat Jodo Yatra (Unite India March) was a Gandhi-led mass movement aimed at uniting India. The yatra began on September 7 from Kanyakumari, passed through 12 states and culminated in Jammu and Kashmir on January 31. During the course of the yatra, Gandhi, 52, addressed 12 public meetings, over 100 corner meetings and 13 press conferences. He had over 275 planned walking interactions and more than 100 sitting interactions.

“So, I think bringing the opposition together is important, but also aligning the opposition and making the people of India understand that there is not just a group of opposition parties that have combined but a proposed way forward for the country. And we’re working on those things,” Gandhi said.

The ex-Wayanad MP said it is the president of the Congress party who will decide the prime ministerial candidate.

“We believe that everybody in India, regardless of who they are, whichever part of the society they come from, they should have a voice that voice should be respected, to be listened to be appreciated. And I think that voice is an asset,” he said.

In his address, Gandhi also took a dig at the ruling BJP government, saying it is “threatening” the people and “misusing” the country’s agencies.

“The BJP is threatening people and misusing government agencies. The Bharat Jodo Yatra started because all the instruments that we needed to connect with the people were controlled by the BJP-RSS,” he said.

“We were also finding that in some way, it had become quite difficult to act politically. And that’s why we decided to walk from the southernmost tip of India to Srinagar,” he said.

Gandhi said the yatra carried the spirit of affection, respect and humility.

“If one studies history, it can be seen that all spiritual leaders — including Guru Nanak Dev ji, Guru Basavanna ji, Narayana Guru ji — united the nation in a similar way,” he said.

Gandhi said India is not what is being shown in the media which likes to promote a political narrative that is far from reality, asserting that there is a “huge distortion”.

“It was very clear to me in the Yatra that it’s in the media’s interest to project these things, it helps the BJP. So, don’t think that everything you see in the media is the truth,” he said.

“India is not what the media shows. The media likes to show a particular narrative. It likes to promote a political narrative that is actually not what is going on in India,” he said.

The Congress leader arrived here on Tuesday, May 30 on a three-city US tour during which he will interact with the Indian diaspora and meet American lawmakers.

He had a first-hand experience of the American immigration system as he had to wait for about two hours along with his other co-passengers on the Air India flight because of the common shortage of staff at the US airports.

People were seen taking selfies with him and asking him questions. He was seen interacting and mingling with other traveler’s at the San Francisco airport.
(Source: PTI)

Rahul Gandhi says PM Modi thinks he knows more than God, calls him ‘specimen’

SANTA CLARA, CA (TIP): There are people in India who think they know more than God and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “one such specimen”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said.

Speaking at the ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ event organized by Indian Overseas Congress USA in Santa Clara in the US state of California on Tuesday, May 30, Gandhi said these people are “absolutely convinced” that they know everything and can explain history to historians, science to scientists and warfare to the army.

“The world is too big and complicated for any person to know everything. That is the disease…There is a group of people in India who are absolutely convinced they know everything. They think they know even more than God.

“They can sit with God and explain to him what’s going on. And of course, our prime minister is one such specimen. If you sat Modiji with God, he would explain to God how the universe works and God will get confused about what have I created,” he said, evoking peals of laughter from hundreds of his Indian American supporters.

“They think they can explain history to historians, science to scientists and warfare to the army. But at the core of it is mediocrity. They’re not ready to listen!” he said.

Gandhi’s event was attended by community members not only in Silicon Valley but also from Los Angeles and Canada. Gandhi told the Indian Americans that the idea of India was under attack and is being challenged.

He applauded the Indian Americans for holding up the Indian flag in America, showing the American people what it means to be an Indian by respecting their culture and learning from them while also allowing the Americans to learn from them.

“You make us all proud. When we think of our country, you are all our ambassadors. When America says Indian people are extremely intelligent. Indian people are masters of IT, Indian people are respectful. All these ideas that have come, they’ve come because of you and because of your actions and your behaviors,” he said.
(Source: PTI)

Rahul Gandhi says his disqualification from Lok Sabha has given him huge opportunity

SAN FRANCISCO (TIP): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said that he did not imagine his disqualification from Lok Sabha was possible when he joined politics but asserted that it has given him a “huge opportunity” to serve the people.

Gandhi, who is in the US for a three-city US tour, made the remarks on Wednesday, June 31 night in response to a series of questions from Indian students at the prestigious Stanford University Campus in California.

The Wayanad (Kerala) Member of Parliament was disqualified from Lok Sabha earlier this year after he was convicted by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark.

In his remarks, Gandhi said that when he joined politics in 2000, he never imagined this is what he would go through. What he sees is going on now is way outside anything that he had thought when he joined politics.

Referring to his disqualification from Lok Sabha as a Member of Parliament, Gandhi, 52, said he didn’t imagine that something like this was possible.

“But then I think it’s actually given me a huge opportunity. Probably much bigger than the opportunity I would have. That’s just the way politics works,” he said.

“I think the drama started really, about six months ago. We were struggling. The entire opposition is struggling in India. Huge financial dominance. Institutional capture. We’re struggling to fight the democratic fight in our country,” he said, adding that at this point in time, he decided to go for the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.

“I am very clear, our fight is ours fight,” he said. “But there is a group of young students from India here. I want to have a relationship with them and want to talk to them. It’s my right to do it,” he said during his interaction with Indian students and academicians of Indian origin at the University here.

He also emphasized in his frequent foreign trips like this, he is not seeking support from anybody.

“I don’t understand why the prime minister doesn’t come here and do it,” Gandhi asked amidst applause from the audience who had packed the entire auditorium at Stanford.

The moderator said that the Prime Minister is welcome to come to Stanford anytime and interact with the students and academicians.

Some of the students were denied entry as the auditorium was packed. Students started queuing up two hours before the event started. In the last one and a half years, several Indian ministers have interacted with Indian students.
(Source: PTI)

Rahul Gandhi holds interactions with Silicon Valley AI experts, startup entrepreneurs

SUNNYWALE, CA (TIP): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Wednesday, May 31 spent the first half of his day with Silicon Valley-based startup entrepreneurs, known for doing path-breaking work in the field of Artificial Intelligence and cutting-edge technologies.Sitting in the front row of the Plug and Play auditorium along with Indian Overseas Congress chairperson Sam Pitroda and some other key aides who have been travelling with him from India, Gandhi was seen engrossed in the panel discussion of experts on various aspects of artificial intelligence, big data, machine learning and their implications on mankind in general and on issues like governance, social welfare measures and also disinformation and misinformation.

Based out of Sunnyvale in California, the Plug and Play Tech Centre is one of the largest incubators of startups. According to its CEO and Founder Saeed Amidi, more than 50 per cent of the startups founder at Plug and Play have been Indians or Indian Americans. Amidi told PTI after the event that Gandhi has shown a deep understanding of the IT sector and his knowledge of the latest and cutting edge technologies are quite impressive.

Participating in a fireside chat with Amidi and Shaun Shankaran, founder of FixNix Startup, Gandhi tried to link all the technologies with the impact this would have on the common man in the remote villages of India.

“If you want to spread any technology in India, you have to have a system where power is relatively decentralized,” he said in response to a question and then went on to share with the select group of invited entrepreneurs about his personal experience of drone technology and its regulation, which, according to him, “faced massive bureaucratic hurdles”.

Data, Gandhi said, is the new gold and countries like India have realized the real potential of it. “There is need to have appropriate regulations on data safety and security”. However, on the issue of Pegasus spyware and similar technologies, Gandhi told the audience he is not worried about it. At one point of time he said he knows his phone is being tapped. And jokingly said, “Hello! Mr Modi” on his iPhone.

“I presume my iPhone is being tapped. You need establish rules with regard to privacy of data information as a nation and also as an individual,” he said.

“If a nation state decides that they want to tap your phone, no one can stop you. This is my sense,” he said. “If the nation is interested in tapping phone, then this is not a battle worth fighting. I think whatever I do and work, is available to the government,” he claimed.

Shankaran, who hosted Gandhi for the AI event at Plug and Play, said he is very much impressed about the knowledge he has shown about the latest developments in technology.
(Source: PTI)

India, China relationship is going to be ‘tough’, says Rahul Gandhi

SAN FRANCISCO (TIP): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has asserted that India cannot be pushed around by China as he underlined that the relationship between the two neighbors is going to be “tough” and not an easy one.

Gandhi, who is in the US for a three-city US tour, made the remarks on Wednesday, May 31 night in response to a question from Indian students at the Stanford University Campus in California.

“How do you see the India-China relationship evolving in the next 5-10 years?” he was asked.

Gandhi replied, “It’s tough right now. I mean, they’ve occupied some of our territory. It’s rough. It’s not too easy (a relationship).” “India cannot be pushed around. That something is not going to happen,” Gandhi said.

India and China are also locked in a lingering border standoff in eastern Ladakh for three years.

The bilateral relationship came under severe strain following the deadly clash in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June 2020.

India has maintained that the bilateral relationship cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border area.

During his interaction at Stanford University, Gandhi supported New Delhi’s policy of having its relationship with Russia in the context of the Ukrainian war, despite the pressure it feels from the West.

“We have a relationship with Russia, we have certain dependencies on Russia. So, I would have a similar stance as the Government of India,” Gandhi said in response to a question when asked does he supports India’s neutral stance on Russia. At the end of the day, India has to look for its own interest. India, he said, is a big enough country whereby it generally will have relationships with other countries.

It’s not so small and dependent that it will have a relationship with one and nobody else, he added.

“We will always have these types of relationships. We will have better relationships with some people, evolving relationships with other people. So that balance is there,” the former Congress president said.

Supporting a strong relationship between India and the United States, Gandhi underscored the importance of manufacturing and both countries collaborating in emerging fields like data and artificial intelligence. Simply focusing on the security and defense aspect of this bilateral relationship is not enough he said.
(Source: PTI)

BJP will be ‘decimated’ in the next three-four assembly elections: Rahul Gandhi

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Rahul Gandhi has said that the BJP will be “decimated” in the next three-four assembly elections by the Congress, emphasizing that they have the basic requirements that are needed to defeat the ruling party which do not have the support of the vast majority of the Indian population.

These remarks were made by Gandhi, who is in the US for a three-city US tour, on Thursday, June 1, at a reception hosted for him by eminent Indian American Frank Islam.

“There is a tendency of people to believe that this sort of juggernaut of the RSS and the BJP is unstoppable. This is not the case. I’ll make a little prediction here. You will see that the next three or four elections that we fight directly with the BJP will be decimated,” Gandhi said in response to a question at the reception.

“I can give it to you right now, that they’re gonna have a really tough time in these assembly elections. We’ll do to them the very similar stuff that we’ve done in Karnataka. But if you ask the Indian media that’s not going to happen,” he said.

The Congress secured a comfortable majority and ousted the BJP from power in Karnataka in the May 10 assembly elections. The visiting leader told the invited group of Indian Americans, members of the think-tank community and lawmakers that the Indian press is currently giving a highly favorable version of the BJP.

“Please realize that 60 per cent of India does not vote for the BJP, does not vote for Narendra Modi. That’s something you have to remember. The BJP has the instruments of noise in their hand, so they can shout, they can scream, they can distort, they can yell, and they are much better at doing that. But they do not have the vast majority of the Indian population (supporting them),” he said.

Responding to another question, Gandhi said that he is convinced that the Congress will be able to defeat the BJP.

Assembly elections will be held in five states — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram — later this year, setting the stage for the crucial general elections in 2024.

“Rebuilding the democratic architecture is not gonna be easy. It’s gonna be difficult. It’s gonna take time. But we are absolutely convinced that we have the basic requirements that are needed to defeat the BJP,” the 52-year-old former Congress party President said.

“You will hear from the media that Modi is impossible to defeat. A lot of it is exaggerated. Modi is actually quite vulnerable. There’s huge unemployment in the country, a massive increase in prices in the country, and these things in India, pinch people, very, very quickly and very hard,” he said.

“But it’s been a very interesting time for me to see how this process plays out. I would’ve never imagined that this is how democracy is attacked. This is the method of attacking a democracy. It has been very good for me,” he said responding to a question on his disqualification as an MP.

The Wayanad (Kerala) Member of Parliament was disqualified from Lok Sabha earlier this year after he was convicted by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark.

“These are good things for me because they teach me and they crystallize exactly what I’m supposed to do and how I’m supposed to do it. I thank all of you for your support, your love and affection. It means a lot to me, especially coming to the United States and seeing that there are many, many people who are ready to fight for Indian democracy and protection,” he said.
(Source: PTI )

Indian democracy is a ‘global public good’; its ‘collapse’ will have an impact on world says Rahul Gandhi

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Asserting that Indian democracy is a “global public good”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said that its “collapse” will have an impact on the world and is not in America’s national interest.

At the same time, Gandhi, who is currently on a six-day tour of the United States, said in multiple settings that the issue of democracy is an internal matter of the country, and he is committed to fighting against it.

“It’s our job, it’s our business, and it’s our work to fight the battle for democracy in India. “And it’s something that we understand, we accept, and we do,” he told reporters at a news conference here at the National Press Club on Thursday, June 1.

“But the thing to remember is that Indian democracy is a global public good. Because India is large enough that a collapse in democracy in India will affect…will have an impact on the world. So that is for you to think about how much you have to value Indian democracy. But for us, it’s an internal matter, and it’s a fight that we are committed to, and we are going to, we are going to win,” Gandhi said. He gave a similar answer to questions on democracy at a reception hosted for him by eminent Indian American Frank Islam.

Responding to a question, Gandhi said that there is a need to broaden the India-US relationship and it should not be restricted to just defense relationships alone. “India has to do what’s in its interest. And that’s what will guide us… So, I am not entirely convinced about the sort of autocratic vision that is being promoted. I think that it’s very important that democracy is protected on the planet. So, India has a role there. India, of course, has its view on things, and I think that that view should be put on the table, but I don’t think one should think about these things as the center of things. I think that’s, that would be arrogant,” he said.

“We understand the strengths that we bring to the table: democratic values, data, these are some of the things that technology, a highly educated, technically educated population. These are our strengths. I think we have to chart our course based on these strengths,” he said in response to a question on the India-US relationship.

During an interaction with the media at the National Press Club, Gandhi said that “the US and India have synergies, that if they come together can be very powerful. What we are facing is a particular vision of the world, the Chinese vision of the world that offers productivity, and prosperity, but under a non-Democratic field.”

“That’s not acceptable to us, because we simply cannot thrive under non-democratic. So, we have to think about productive production and prosperity in a Democratic field. And I think that’s where the bridge between India and the United States can play a very important role for us and for you,” he said.

Responding to a question on China, at a dinner reception, Gandhi said the Chinese system offers prosperity, but under a non-democratic system. “I feel that an alternative vision needs to be put on the table. I think that’s the real challenge facing the United States and India and other democracies. What exactly does a countervailing vision look like and what are the core elements of that vision?” he said.

“I think we are in the midst of a number of transitions. We are in the midst of a transition in mobility, a transition in energy, a transition in communication. How do we, how do we think about those transitions? I think those are really the big questions. Of course, uh, with regards to the United States, we have cooperation on defense, and that’s very important, but I think it’s equally important to widen the relationship and make it broader so it’s more secure,” Gandhi said.
China is occupying Indian territory, the former Congress party chief claimed.

“It’s an accepted fact. I think 1,500 square kilometers of land the size of Delhi is occupied by them. It’s absolutely unacceptable. The Prime Minister seems to believe otherwise. Maybe he knows something that we don’t know,” he said at the National Press Club.
(Source: PTI)