Rahul Gandhi Urges NRIs to Work With Congress

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi urged NRIs in the United States to join forces with his party. Gandhi, who made a speech at the Times Square in New York, also thanked the Indian diaspora in the country for their contribution in various fields, calling them the “backbone of our country”.

Congress Doors Open for NRIs

Gandhi called the original Congress movement in India an NRI movement, citing the examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Chandrasekhar Azad, Sardar Vallabhai Patel and BR Ambedkar, who were all non-resident Indians at one point in time. “Every single one of them went to the outside world, saw it, returned back and used the ideas to transform India,” he said. Verghese Kurien, the father of the White Revolution in India, was also once an NRI, he pointed out.

Gandhi also hailed Sam Pitroda, another NRI and a close aide of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who revolutionized the telecom industry in India.

He also invited NRIs to join the Congress party, saying that their contribution will play a crucial role in shaping modern India.

“You (NRIs) have tremendous knowledge and understanding so you need to involve. I want to invite you to work with Congress to discuss the vision for going forward. We want to take your help,” he said.

Emphasizing the fact that NRIs are the backbone of India, Gandhi added that they are making valuable contributions in building both the countries. H also asked them to stand up against vicious forces that are trying to divide the nation. He revealed that during his meeting with the Republican and Democratic party representatives in the United States, many of them asked him, “What happened to the harmony and tolerance that prevailed in India?”

“The divisive politics was ruining India’s reputation abroad and NRIs in the tradition of the great NRIs before them, should stand up to those dividing India now. Across the world, populism and intolerance were on the rise and the world was wondering if India has the answers for bringing about peace,” he said.

“We have many religions, languages living happily together. The reason they have been able to do so are ideas of the Congress party.”

Congress vs BJP in U.S.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has had an upper hand in exercising influence over the NRI community in the United States, thanks to their widespread social media campaign during the last Lok Sabha election and the outreach efforts undertaken by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Most Congress sympathizers in the country have been more vocal in the academic circles and media, and Gandhi aims to bring them to the forefront through this visit.

At Times Square, more than 2,000 people came to listen to Gandhi’s speech. Modi’s address at Madison Square in the city in 2014 was attended by 20,000 Indian Americans.

Gandhi also put forward his ideas to eradicate unemployment in India.

“The challenge in India was to create jobs for the 30,000 young people who enter the job market every day, and of whom only 450 get employed. The current focus on 50 or 60 big companies for economic growth was not going to solve the problem and only growing small and medium scale enterprises and encouraging entrepreneurship will work,” he said.