Rama Krishna Sangem
Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi began his 10 day US tour on May 30, with a frontal attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP. Rahul Gandhi will be addressing a series of open and closed door meetings in America in the coming two weeks, where his aim is to counter PM Modi who will also be in the US in the third week of June – on June 22, US president Joe Biden will host a state dinner for Modi at White House.
Already, Rahul paid a visit to the UK recently where he sougth the cooperation of Indian diaspora to dislodge BJP from power in the coming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. BJP raised objections to Rahul attacking the PM and the government abroad. “This amounted to insulting India abroad,” said the BJP. However, Rahul Gandhi stuck to his stand and continued the same tone and tenor of speeches in the US too.
Upbeat after Karnataka victory
Rahul Gandhi appeared upbeat after the recent victory of Congress in Karnataka assembly elections. Rahul attended a meeting of Indian diaspora in San Francisco on May 31, Wednesday. “If you believed in anger, hatred and arrogance, you would be sitting in a BJP meeting and I would be doing Mann Ki Baat,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said while addressing Indian diaspora in San Francisco.
“So thank you very much for holding up the Indian flag in America. Showing the American people what it means to be American, respecting them, learning from them and also letting them learn from you,” Gandhi said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that he had to launch ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra‘ because all instruments of doing politics (connecting with people) were “being controlled” and the “whole India” walked with him during the mega foot march.
Speaking about his Bharat Jodo Yatra, the senior Congress said, “We found that when everyone started working together, a completely different type of energy started coming,” he said, adding, “The government tried everything it could do to stop the (Bharat Jodo) Yatra, but its impact kept on increasing.”
Rahul Gandh will meet Indian diaspora at New York and Washington DC in the coming days. We need to see the kind of response to his visit from the US leaders, both Democrats and Republicans as well as other opinion leaders. Also awaited is what kind of response Indian Americans will show to Rahul Gandhi during his visit. There are close to 3 million Indian Americans, but just 1 per cent of them show interest in politics, the rest focus on their work.
