Washington: The Leader of Opposition & former Congress President Shri Rahul Gandhi on September 8, 2024, arrived in the United States on a three-day visit, during which, he held ‘meaningful discussions and insightful conversations’ to further strengthen the bond between India and the United States.

Shri Rahul Gandhi was welcomed at the airport by the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress and members of the Indian diaspora Shri Sam Pitroda. In a Facebook post, Shri Rahul Gandhi wrote, "I am truly delighted by the warm welcome I’ve received in Dallas, Texas, USA, from the Indian Diaspora and members of the Indian Overseas Congress.”

"I eagerly look forward to engaging in meaningful discussions and insightful conversations that will further strengthen the bond between the two nations during this visit," Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi said.

"Since Rahul Gandhi has become the Leader of the Opposition, I, as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, with a presence in 32 countries, have been bombarded with requests from Indian diaspora diplomats, academicians, businessmen, leaders, international media, and many others for interactions with Rahul Gandhi," Shri Sam Pitroda said. Shri Rahul Gandhi interacted with the press at the national press club. He met with the think-tank people and also had an interaction at Georgetown University which is equally important in Washington DC. This was Shri Rahul Gandhi's first visit to the United States since assuming the mantle of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The Congress leader interacted with students and faculty at The University of Texas at Dallas, USA, also with academicians and community people, where he answered them on various issues like role of Leader of Opposition, his perspective, experience of ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, employment and youth, on Challenges of AI, India’s economy and overall development. He also met some technocrats and had dinner with the leaders from Dallas.

Love, Respect and Humility are missing in Indian politics, Congress leader Shri Rahul Gandhi

On September 9, 2024, Shri Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha), addressed the Indian Diaspora in Dallas, Texas, USA. In his address, he said that his role was to inject values of love, respect and humility into Indian politics. “I think, what is missing in our political system and across parties - love, respect and humility. Love to all human beings, not necessarily only of one religion, one community, one caste, one state or to those who speak one language. Respect to everybody who is trying to build an India, not just the most powerful, but the weakest; and humility - not in others, but in oneself. So, I think that is how I see my role. And if you were to ask me five years from now, do you consider yourself successful… I would look at these three things. I would say - have I helped bring the idea of love into the forefront of Indian politics; have I helped make politicians and others, and myself in particular, more humble; have I increased the respect that Indian people have with each other? Those would be the values that I would be thinking about.” Shri Rahul Gandhi said.

He further said, “Now, we started here with the Indian National Anthem, and while the National Anthem was playing, I was thinking to myself that this song mentions all our states and it mentions them all equally. It does not start by saying- this state is the best and this state is second best and this state is the third best. The song basically describes ‘India’ as a Union of states, very much like the United States. So, often people say- oh! we share the fact that we are the two biggest democracies, but we share another very important fact that we are both Union of states - the United States, whose National Anthem we also played, and in our Constitution, it’s clearly stated- ‘India that is Bharat is a Union of states’ which means just like in the United States, no state is superior to any other state, no religion is superior to any other religion, no language is superior to any other language.”

Making an indirect reference to the Lok Sabha results in which the BJP failed to get a majority on its own, Shri Rahul Gandhi said, "The people were saying the BJP is attacking our tradition, attacking our language, etc. What they understood was that anybody who is attacking the Constitution of India is also attacking our religious tradition."

“We saw that immediately, within minutes of the election result, nobody in India was scared of the BJP, of the Prime Minister. These are huge achievements. We are not going to accept an attack on our Constitution. We're not going to accept an attack on our religion. We're not going to accept an attack on our States,” he said. Asserting that the US needs India and vice versa, Shri Gandhi said that the Indian diaspora is a ‘bridge’ between the two nations.

"In my view, you should travel freely between these two homes. You should bring the idea of India to the United States and the ideas of the United States to India.” You have a very important role because the relationship between these two unions is going to determine the future of both the countries Shri Gandhi said in his remarks.

"I can tell you that the idea of PM Modi, 56-inch chest, direct connection with God. That's all gone. It's history now," Shri Rahul Gandhi in Washington

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and former Congress President Shri Rahul Gandhi addressed the Indian Diasporain Washington DC, USA, on September 10, 2024. From ‘not hating Modi’ to taking on the challenge of fighting the Lok Sabha elections, Shri Rahul Gandhi spoke about a range of issues as he interacted with students and the Indian diaspora during his visit to the United States.

Speaking at the Georgetown University in Washington DC, Shri Rahul Gandhi remarked that he does not harbour hatred for Prime Minister Narendra Modi but simply disagrees with his viewpoint.“You will be surprised, but I don’t actually hate Mr. Modi…he has got a point of view, fine, I don’t agree with his point of view but I don’t hate him,” he said.“He (Modi) has a different point of view. I have a different point of view. I have empathy and compassion for what he is doing,” he added. Shri Rahul Gandhi asserted that the Congress’ message is to spread love, not hatred.

On BJP, RSS

Former Congress President and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Shri Rahul Gandhi, took a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party with a veiled reference to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) stating that the ruling party doesn't understand that the country is for everyone, whereas for them whose headquarters are in Nagpur, only one ideology is important. Interacting with the Indian diaspora at an event in Herndon, Virginia, Shri Rahul made a reference to the different dishes on a food plate to highlight India's diversity. The LoP reiterated that India is a ‘Union of states’, adding that it means a union of different traditions and histories.

"In India, everything works together...if someone sits in front of Thali and says chawal (rice) is more important than Dal (pulses) and sabji (vegetable) is the least important, then what will happen? That's what BJP does," Rahul Gandhi said.

“The misunderstanding that BJP and RSS have is they think that India is a whole bunch of separate things. So, we don’t need to redefine anything, it’s already there,” he added. Taking a jibe at Modi’s remark about speaking to God, Shri Rahul Gandhi said, “We knew. When he said that I speak directly to God, we knew that we had actually blown him apart. And that the psychology had gone. So, people think that, well, this was the Prime Minister sort of saying that, look, ‘I’m special, I’m unique, and I talk to God’. But that’s not how we saw it. Internally, we saw it as a psychological collapse, what happened here? How is this thing not working?”

Addressing an audience of Indian Americans in Virginia on September 9, Shri Gandhi accused the RSS of viewing some religions, languages, and communities as inferior to others.“What the RSS is basically saying is that certain states are inferior to other states. Certain languages are inferior to other languages. Certain religions are inferior to other religions. Certain communities are inferior to other communities. This is what the fight is about,” he said.

Shri Rahul Gandhi continued his criticism of the BJP, claiming that the ‘fear of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ among people dissipated after the Lok Sabha election results were announced. “Something has changed after the elections. PM Modi tried to create an environment of fear. Various agencies, media, income tax department tried to spread fear, even among small and medium-sized businesses. But nothing worked. The fear vanished in one second. The spread of fear took years and consumed a lot of money, but it vanished. You can see it in Parliament right upfront… And I can tell you that the idea of PM Modi, 56-inch chest, direct connection with God. That’s all gone. It’s history now. He, his partners in government and India, the three or four senior ministers in his government realise it,” he said.

Shri Rahul Gandhi said - this is your history, your language, your tradition, your entire imagination is in these words and what the RSS is basically saying is that certain states are inferior to other states, certain languages are inferior to other languages, certain religions are inferior to other religions, certain communities are inferior to other communities, this is what the fight is about. “Are we going to have an India where people are allowed to believe, what they want to believe. People are allowed to respect, what they want to respect. Say, what they want to say, listen to what they want to hear or we are going to have an India where only few limited people can decide what is going to happen and the problem is these people don’t understand India,” he further said.

On Lok Sabha elections

Shri Gandhi also alleged that the recent Lok Sabha elections were unfairly conducted, with the BJP benefiting due to a ‘huge financial advantage’. “I don’t see it as a free election. I see it as a heavily controlled election. I don’t believe that in a fair election, the BJP would come anywhere near 240 seats. I would be surprised,” he said. “The Election Commission was doing what they wanted. The entire campaign was structured so that Mr. Modi could carry out his agenda across the country, with different designs for different states,” he claimed.

He further accused the PM of struggling to come to terms with the fact that the Congress fought the elections with its bank accounts frozen.

“The Congress Party fought the elections with their bank accounts frozen and has basically destroyed the idea of Modi. You can see it because when you see the Prime Minister now in Parliament…he is psychologically trapped, and he basically cannot come to terms, he cannot understand how this has happened,” he said.

Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi also met with United States lawmakers Congressmen Mr. Bradley James Sherman, Mr. Jonathan Jackson, Mr. Ro Khanna, Mr. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ms Barbara Lee, Mr. Thanedar, Mr. Jesús G. “Chuy” García, Ms. Ilhan Omar, Mr. Hank Johnson and Ms. Jan Schakowsky at Rayburn House office Building in Wahington D.C. Later, Shri Rahul Gandhi took two press conferences at the National Press Club, Washington DC.