On February 16, the billionaire George Soros was a guest speaker at the Technical University of Munich, speaking on climate change and geopolitics. However, he used the podium to launch another attack on India’s Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi. He said that while India’s a democracy, Modi is “no democrat”, alleging that inciting violence against Muslims is the cause of his “meteoric rise.”
The billionaire continued to state that he predicts a weakened Modi in the backdrop of Adani Group’s companies crashing at the stock market with the release of Hindenburg’s report. He said that “I may be naive, but I expect a democratic revival in India.”
Given George Soros’s recent comments, BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani replied, “The man who broke the Bank of England & is designated by nation an economic war criminal has now pronounced his desire to break Indian democracy. George Soros, an international entrepreneur has declared his ill-intention to intervene in the democratic processes of India.”
The Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh replied to the billionaire’s comments in a tweet stating, “whether the PM-linked Adani scam spurs a democratic resurgence in India depends totally on the Congress, the opposition parties, and our election process.”
However, the Congress MP’s colleague, Praveen Chakravarthy, Congress’s Chairman for Data Analytics, tweeted, “Modi may dodge answering questions about Adani in Parliament and India, but he cannot escape from foreign investors – George Soros”, endorsing the billionaire’s hope for a “democratic revival” in India.
Since the Congress distanced itself from the billionaire’s comments hoping for the destabilisation of the Modi government, a photo emerged of Open Society Foundation’s (OSF) Global Vice President Salil Shetty marching with Rahul Gandhi during his Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Since then, a few reports of Salil Shetty’s attack against the Indian Government have emerged. In his interview with CNN, he said, “There are two viruses in this country – one is a coronavirus and the other is an anti-democracy virus. There is vaccine only for one.”
George Soros’s OSF was put on the Indian Government’s watchlist in 2016 as the billionaire’s foundation is known for meddling in countries’ internal affairs. The foundation funds various political NGOs, including Palestinian NGOs Al-Haq and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, which have ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terror organisation.
Through OSF and other avenues available to him, George Soros is known for interfering in countries’ internal affairs, attacking their sovereignty, financing anti-government activities and his hate for nationalism and nationalists. For example, the Sikh Coalition, a New York-based foundation, was a part of the farmer’s protest in India. According to the Sikh Coalition’s website, the foundation has received grants from George Soros’s OSF.
After Salil Shetty’s and the OSF’s involvement with Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was discovered, BJP’s National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla shared Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s tweet from May 26, 2009, where Tharoor said “Met old friend George Soros upbeat about India and curious about our neighbourhood. He’s far more than an investor: a concerned world citizen.” Shehzad shared Tharoor’s tweet with a question, “Ye Rishta Kya Kehlata hai?” asking about Congress’s old “friendship” with the billionaire.
Jairam Ji
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata hai?
After Praveen & Salil now some proof about your own MP Shashi Tharoor! pic.twitter.com/5Oox5C1UhW
— Shehzad Jai Hind (Chowkidar as per INC ecosystem) (@Shehzad_Ind) February 17, 2023
In May 2022, Rahul Gandhi visited the Corpus Christie College of Cambridge varsity. He was visiting for a tele-on-tele with a lecturer as a part of the ‘Ideas for India’ programme. The programme was organised by ‘Bridge India,’ a non-profit think tank, which is associated with ‘Samruddha Bharat’ and Salil Shetty is one of the advisors at ‘Samruddha Bharat.’
However, Congress’s connections with George Soros run older. Harsh Mander, who served as a former member of the Prime Minister’s National Advisory Council under the Congress rule and co-convened groups on the Communal and Targeted Violence Bill, also has deep ties with George Soros and the OSF. In addition, he has served as Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the Human Rights Initiative of the OSF from 2020 to 2022. He also has past teaching assignments at the Open Society Internship for Rights and Governance.
It is pertinent to note that Amrit Singh, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s daughter, is also tied to George Soros. She works as a human rights lawyer with the billionaire’s Open Society Justice Initiative. It is not just evident that the Congress has old ties with George Soros, it is also evident that Congress has continued to foster these ties even while the billionaire and OSF have pledged to destabilise the Indian Government.
