Elisha Pulivarti from Washington DC
I saw a confident Rahul Gandhi, now on his 10 day US tour now, predicting Congress winning 3 to 4 state assemblies which go to elections late this year. Elections are scheduled to be held in Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. However, Rahul did not spell which 3 or 4 states his party will win. He appeared upbeat over resounding victory of his party in Karnataka recently.
I was present at an indoors meeting held at the residence of Dr Frank E Islam and Ms Debbie Driesman, Indian Americans, at Potomac, Maryland on June 1, Thursday night. Invitations were sent out to around 100 guests but the place was packed to capacity and more. Those who turned up are from a cross section of society – academicians, business and community leaders and entrepreneurs.
Rahul who looked energetic and patient spoke for about 40 minutes and answered to questions from the audience, on a range of issues. He already made an impact on his audience at San Francisco with his clarity of thought on various issues in India. He will be addressing bigger gatherings in New York on June 2 (EST -US time). Indian Oversees Congress is organizing Rahul’s programmes in the US. Sam Pitroda is chairman of Indian Oversees Congress
Why Modi is becoming unpopular
Rahul Gasndh explained reasons for Prime Minister Modi’s unpopularity mainly because of his policy decisions which only benefited the rich, at the cost of the poor. “Many sections of people are unhappy with him (Modi) as they suffered a lot in the last few years. Be it demonetization or failure to create jobs,” said Rahul Gandhi. Another major reason is insecurity generated among religious minorities in India.
“There is a sort of fear among minorities and democratic atmosphere is shrinking day by day. These factors play a role in defeating him next year’s parliament elections,” said Rahul Gandhi. Interestingly, Rahul Gandhi’s US tour comes 2-3 weeks before PM Modi’s state visit to the US from June 22. Both the leaders will be addressing Indian diaspora and try to win them over. Need to wait to know who succeeds finally.
(Elisha Pulivarti is CEO of US India SME Council and writes for Excel India)
