Rahul Gandhi has been on a 10-day tour to the USA. During his tour, he had several speaking engagements where he certainly stirred the pot, probably to the detriment of his own party and political career. His speech revolved around the usual themes – Hindus bad, Muslims god, Congress peaceful, ‘Hindu BJP’ communal, Muslim League secular, Rahul Gandhi victim, Modi bad. There was, however, a little-known detail about his tour that almost managed to fly under the radar – that Rahul Gandhi paid a secret visit to the White House.
An article in the Economic Times written by one Seema Sirohi, it was claimed that Rahul Gandhi during his visit made a trip to the White House, which both parties involved – the Biden administration and Rahul Gandhi (Congress) chose to keep under the wraps. Seema Sirohi confirmed that the article was accurate and she was standing by it when she responded to a Twitter user dismissing claims that she was a Modi critic.
Who or what is @HinduACTion pray? Clearly not much of a reader of columns! Unless you do “sashtang pranam” daily you are a critic of @PMOIndia? Uff. https://t.co/nhvAPWtqH5
— Seema Sirohi (@seemasirohi) June 8, 2023
The article written by Seema Sirohi was one that praised Rahul Gandhi to the moon and back. Seema wrote about how Rahul Gandhi had matured as far as foreign policy was concerned, had valued the USA as a strategic partner, enthused the diaspora and essentially, made his mark during his USA trip. The only slip-up according to Seema Sirohi was calling IUML “secular”. Her reasons for this assertion were hilarious at best and sinister at worst.
She claimed that Rahul Gandhi should not have claimed that IUML was “secular” because it went against the Shah Bano verdict, a protest which Congress yielded to at that time, denying Muslim women their right. While that may be true, the reason why IUML is not secular is because it is a religious organisation which partook in the partition of India, is an offshoot of Jinnah’s Muslim League and has gone on a rampage against Hindus, created violence several times in the past.
Be that as it may, one essential part of the report was tucked away in one sentence, amidst all the glowing praise being showered on Rahul Gandhi. That he made a secret trip to the White House during his US tour.
For an opposition leader to visit the White House in ‘secret’, without disclosing it to the government of India and the MEA, is a serious breach of protocol and could potentially undermine India’s interests. Given these revelations, several commentators took to Twitter to voice their speculations.
HinduACT, an advocacy organisation, took to Twitter to say, “A strong critic of @PMOIndia and #Hindutva, veteran journalist @seemasirohi admits in this detailed article, that @RahulGandhi‘s embrace of ANTI-INDIA groups, giving them full-control his Washington DC events, points to a problematic trend. Seema however stops short of highlighting the fact that many of these “anti-India” groups are actually #Pakistan proxies, linked to both #Khalistani separatists and #Kashmiri Islamists”.
A strong critic of @PMOIndia and #Hindutva, veteran journalist @seemasirohi admits in this detailed article, that @RahulGandhi's embrace of ANTI-INDIA groups, giving them full-control his Washington DC events, points to a problematic trend.
— HinduACTion (@HinduACT) June 8, 2023
Seema however stops short of… pic.twitter.com/UBqUsTQP6v
Sunanda Vashisht, a journalist, writer and commentator also noted that the article does not note who he met at the White House.
According to this report Rahul Gandhi went to the White House. Doesn’t say who he met there. The visit has been kept a secret by both sides. pic.twitter.com/BVwsD6rN8X
— Sunanda Vashisht (@sunandavashisht) June 7, 2023
Ram, a USA based entrepreneur also noted that one could expect significant meddling in the 2024 General Elections in India given that Rahul Gandhi went to the White House. He speculated that this ‘secret’ visit reeked of a regime change operation.
A secret visit of RaGa to the White House means a regime change operation has moved to the next level. As India rises AND refuses to align fully with American foreign policy positions, Modi in office poses high risk. They need a puppet regime. Expect significant meddling in 2024
— Ram (@ramprasad_c) June 8, 2023
Notably, Rahul Gandhi had invited severe backlash many times after he sought foreign intervention in India’s political matters during his controversial visits abroad. Rahul Gandhi had urged the US and Europe to intervene to “restore” democracy in India. Rahul claimed that Europe and the US are not doing enough to restore democracy in India as they are getting trade and money from the country.
In a long speech made at Cambridge earlier in 2023, Rahul Gandhi resorted to blatant lies, misinformation and baseless claims to make a case for himself as the ‘ideal leader’ of India. Completely ignoring India’s electoral and democratic process, the Congress prince was seen desperately pleading with Western powers to intervene in India’s politics for a regime change operation against Modi. The speech is explained here.
In 2021 as well, Rahul Gandhi had demanded foreign interference. Rahul Gandhi made the comments during an online interaction with Ambassador Nicholas Burns of the Harvard Kennedy School. The Gandhi scion was invited by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics to talk about challenges and opportunities in India and reflections on politics and public service. Nicholas Burns is a former American ambassador to Greece, and currently a Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Rahul Gandhi asked for American interference in India towards the end of the program, after host Nicholas Burns had delivered his concluding remarks. After Burns concluded the session, Rahul Gandhi asks if he can make a quick ending comment. He then proceeds to say, “I don’t hear anything from the US establishment about what is happening in India. If you are saying partnership in democracy is, I mean, what’s your view on what is happening here?” Burns was visibly shocked after hearing this open offer from Rahul Gandhi for asking for America to comment on India’s internal matters.
Rahul Gandhi also added, “I fundamentally believe, that America is a profound idea. The idea of freedom, the way it is encapsulated in your constitution is a very powerful idea. But you got to defend that idea. And that’s the real question.” However, Nicholas Burns didn’t respond to this specifically, only saying that when they will hold the next session in two weeks with another guest from India, they will discuss these matters.
There have been several instances where Congress and Rahul Gandhi proved that they are not above compromising India’s interest at the altar of electoral politics. For example, In September 2018, the Gandhi scion visited Kailash Mansarovar and a year later admitted to having secretly met the Chinese ministers during his visit. The word secretly is used here as there were no media reports about his meeting with the Chinese. On a question regarding concerns of automation in job creation, Rahul Gandhi while speaking at a meeting in Odisha said that a couple of Chinese ministers told him during his Kailash visit that China is facing no problem in job creation due to automation. He said “how can China, in a world which is automated, is producing 50,000 new jobs in every 24 hours? Why? Why is it that automation is a problem in Europe, and automation is a problem in India, but automation does not seem to bother the Chinese? When I had gone to Kailash, I met a couple of their ministers, and they said no job creation is not a problem in China at all. We have plenty of jobs.” This pattern was repeated when he met Chinese Ambassadors after the Doklam standoff as well.
With repeated demands for foreign interference by Rahul Gandhi, the fact that he visited the White House in secret during his USA tour has raised concerns and speculations about his intentions, who he met and what the implications for India in the next year would be.
