All India Professionals’ Congress leader Praveen Chakravarty threatened OpIndia and its Editor-in-chief Nupur J Sharma over an exclusive report that talked about an alleged unofficial trip to the White House by Rahul Gandhi during his 10-day trip to the USA in 2023 and Congress Overseas chairman Sam Pitroda’s alleged involvement in activities that raise concerns about potential foreign influence and conflicts of interest.
“This is totally false & an utter lie. There were no “secret” White House meetings,” claimed Chakravarty in a tweet alleging that OpIndia’s report on Sam Pitroda and Rahul Gandhi’s alleged attempt at seeking foreign interference amounted to “prosecutable offence”.
This is totally false & an utter lie. There were no “secret” White House meetings.
— Praveen Chakravarty (@pravchak) July 31, 2024
I was with Mr.Gandhi on every day of this trip
This fake news about the Leader of the Opposition can impact bilateral relationship, is against India’s national interests & a prosecutable offence. https://t.co/uEfDW33Oje
Curiously, Chakravarty threatened legal action against OpIndia right after insinuating that the frontrunner Presidential nominee for the Democrats, Kamala Harris, was linked to senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Chakravarty tweeted that Harris’s ad campaign “Fearless” was inspired by Rahul Gandhi’s “Daro Mat”.
The report published on 30 July 2024 spoke about Sam Pitroda, the Chairman of Congress Overseas and a close aide to the Gandhi family, and his alleged involvement in activities that raise concerns about potential foreign influence and conflicts of interest.
As a former naturalised American citizen, Pitroda is the founder of the Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI), a US-based NGO. Two of GKI’s co-founders, Nina V. Fedoroff and Sara Farley, have notable connections to the US government and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Fedoroff, a former Science and Technology Adviser to the US Secretary of State, is a strong proponent of genetically modified crops and has lobbied for US agribusiness interests in India. Farley, the Vice President of the Food Initiative at the Rockefeller Foundation, has secured funding for GKI and has collaborated with USAID and other US government agencies.
GKI’s supporters include USAID, the Rockefeller Foundation, the US Department of State, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, raising questions about their potential influence on the NGO’s activities.
Pitroda’s ties to the US government and the Rockefeller Foundation, along with his advisory role to the Indian Prime Minister and his involvement in arranging speaking engagements for Rahul Gandhi, have led to concerns about foreign interference in India’s internal affairs. The report put in the spotlight Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the United States in 2023, about a year before the General Elections of 2024. During his trip, On the 1st of June 2023, Rahul Gandhi was in conversation at the National Press Club in Washington. During that conversation, he lied about pretty much everything. From the CAA to Delhi anti-Hindu riots that followed the violence.
It was during the same trip that Rahul Gandhi had called IUML – a Muslim party responsible for genocides and carnage against Hindus – a ‘secular’ party. On the very same trip, he had also participated in a meeting at the Hudson Institute. The meeting was of ‘Think Tanks’ discussing the future of USA-India relations. Sunita Vishwanath, who was seated next to Rahul Gandhi, is the co-founder of a US-based organization called “Hindus for Human Rights” which has spread lies and propaganda mainly against Hindus, allied with Islamists, and has ties to George Soros. OpIndia has done a detailed investigation, which can be read here.
Intriguingly, a report claimed that Rahul Gandhi had made an unofficial trip to the White House during his 10-day trip to the USA. An article in the Economic Times written by one Seema Sirohi 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. 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.
