 I want to see leaders on the RIS, IOC members, Silicon Valley friends, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. It is indeed a special privilege and honor for me to be here to welcome Mr. Rahul Gandhi to the US. I want to especially thank him for taking time out from his very busy schedule, not only come to the US but agreed to spend six days with us. He came in this morning at 7 o'clock and we had our first meeting. This is second meeting. We have a major event tomorrow at Stanford University. Then we go to Washington DC where we have series of interactions with press, political leaders, think-tag people, NGOs, business leaders. Then we go to New York where we have a lunch with group of intellectuals. We have another lunch with group of artisans, creative people, cultural people. And then we have a mega event that Mohindarji talked about. So I'm delighted that we are all here together. Indian Overseas Congress is in 32 countries. Beside Middle East, US and Canada happens to be a priority. In Middle East we have a very large number of people from India. Mr. Rahul Gandhi and I went to Middle East a few years ago. We had his program at a cricket stadium and you'll be surprised to learn that 40,000 people came to listen to him. We had 1100 buses lined up. It is a major task whenever we organize an event for him. I get hundreds and hundreds of requests to meet him personally, talk to him, give me photo opportunity. And unfortunately we have not been able to meet all the requests because of the time constraint. But I must say the enthusiasm during this visit is much more than I have ever seen before. Partly because of victory in Karnataka and mainly because of his walk. He walked for 4,000 km, 150 days, 13 states and met thousands and thousands of people. The images that I have seen where 50,000 people walk with him is absolutely mind boggling. I believe this has been a turning point in many ways, not only for our party, for Mr. Rahul Gandhi and for India. We are here and we are visiting other foreign countries because we sincerely believe that Indian democracy is larger global public good. We have 1.4 billion people and our democracy has to be vibrant, alive. People like me worry about the fact that our institutions are captured. Our civil society is not allowed to function more as watchdog and we have lost rational, logical conversation. You see on Indian television what goes on and you wonder what will happen to the next generation of Indians when they come into the workforce. How would they think about the future of India? I worry a lot about what is going on in India. And I am sure many of you feel the same way. And we want to have this broader conversation with large number of people abroad because democracy is going through some strains in many parts of the world. We had in the US 4 years of confusion. We are still not done with it. In other countries like Turkey, even to some extent Mexico, Hungary and I can go on and on with the list where democracy is going through a serious challenge partly because of social media because everybody and his brother has opinion about everything. And everybody is giving you advice on what to do, how to do. Even those who can't find a job has list of advice for the Prime Minister of the country. And I must give you this little example. Allow me to take a minute. You know in Rajiv Gandhi era I had gone to Madhya Pradesh and Jairam Ramesh was with me and we were at the airport. And some young man was staring at me. I saw him in a crowd. Same young man came to Chief Minister's house outside. Same young man came to Governor's house and while we were leaving Bhopal, he was at the airport. So I told Jairam, I said Jairam get that guy. I want to talk to him. So I called him. He came to me and I said you have been staring at me everywhere. What's the problem? So he said sir I'm so happy that you spotted me. He said I have this letter in which I have listed everything that Rajiv Gandhi should do. I said that's interesting. He said what is it? He said I have outlined a complete plan for the nation. And if Rajiv Gandhi would just follow this he will be Prime Minister for 15 years. So I said that's very interesting. What do you do? He said I'm looking for a job. Only in India you find people and he had the guts. And he sincerely believed that he knows how to solve Prime Minister's problem but he can't get a job. Today in India job is a major situation, major crisis. We are not creating the kind of jobs we need to create. Tomorrow we have a plan to visit a group of experts through Sean to discuss AI. On one hand new technology is going to eliminate jobs. On the other hand we need lot many more jobs. So our challenges are very special. And we need young minds like Rahul to lead the country. We need someone with open mind. We need someone who has broader exposure, global experience. And that's the reason we are all here meeting and interacting with large number of people. I want to thank all of you for taking time from your busy schedule to come and meet with us. I know that the road ahead is pretty complicated. It's not that simple. Because in people's mind in India something has just come in which is hard to get rid of. That India belongs only to Hindu's idea of India. Our idea of India is very different. I was born in a small little tribal village in Orissa during British Raj. And right in front of my house was a Muslim. On left was Jain. On right was Sardarji. And the back was tribal Oria. And we all lived together like family. No one ever thought that this fellow is Muslim and that fellow is Sikh. They were all uncles and cousins. We all played together. That idea of India is being threatened. And to me that is the core idea of India. Diversity, inclusion, truth, trust, love. All of these ideas are being challenged. And it hurts. At my age it really hurts, believe me. Because I felt when I will get old the dream that we all had as little children of India will be a reality. We have made a lot of progress in the last 75 years in technology. The fact that many of you are here including me is because India gave us the education at very low cost. The credit goes to our founding father Pandit Nehru and others who had the vision to build IITs, IIMs, laboratories, space programs, atomic energy. And Rajiv Gandhi gave push to IIT and telecom. I had a chance to work with him and I will never forget the fact that he gave meaning to my life. My life had no meaning except being an engineer. He had the political will not only to give meaning to my own life but create jobs for millions and millions of us. And then when Prime Minister Modi says that nothing got done for 70 years it hurts. But that's okay because I am used to listening to lies for last many years. So I have nothing against individual. My problem is the very core idea of India that I grew up with is being challenged. With this I want to invite great son of India. I want to invite a young leader to tell us little bit about his journey for 4000 km. I want you to learn little bit about how he could do it. What did it meant to him and then tell us little bit about what keeps him going. What keeps him awake at night and what is his view of the world and India going forward. Thank you. Mr. Sam Pitroda, Mohinder Singh Ji, Saab Bullar Ji, Sandeep Fogela Ji, Gurpreet Ji, Shan Sankaran Ji, Madhu Iragu Ji, brothers and sisters, friends. I don't see the children who sang but where are they? I'd like to welcome all of you and thank all of you for coming here. And also thank the wonderful children for the song they sang. It was sung very movingly and very well. Some months ago we started a walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. Prior to walking we were finding that the normal tools that we used to use for politics, conversations like this, public meetings, were simply not working anymore. All the instruments that we needed to do politics in India, they were controlled by the PJP and the RSS. People are threatened, this is important people, agencies are used on people. So we also are finding that in some way it had become quite difficult to act politically. And that's why we decided to walk from the southernmost tip of India to Srinagar. And when we started I thought okay, we'll see what happens. After five or six days we realized that actually walking four thousand kilometers is not an easy thing. And I had an old knee injury that started to act up. So I said now I'm in real trouble because there's no choice, one has to walk and I'm having quite a lot of pain. Then quite a surprising thing happened. I started noticing that after walking 25 kilometers, 25 kilometers is more than half a marathon. So after walking three weeks, every day 25 kilometers, I suddenly realized one afternoon that it's strange but I'm not feeling tired at all. I get up in the morning, six o'clock we used to start and we used to end walking at about 7.38 in the evening and I was like this is very strange, I'm not feeling tired at all, what is this? And then I started asking people around that everybody is saying to me I'm not feeling tired. It's very strange, we're not feeling tired, so I started to think about it and I realized that actually what was going on was that it was not us that was walking. It was India that was walking with us, right? And the large mass of people who were coming, all religions, all communities, everybody, kids, they were creating an atmosphere of love and affection where nobody was feeling tired. Almost as if everybody was walking together, everybody was walking together and nobody was feeling tired, they were helping each other. And that's where we came up with the idea, we opened a shop of love in the market of hatred. Welcome, welcome. In the market of hatred, there is a shop of love, 12 pairs, see the interesting thing about us, about the Congress party is we have affection towards everybody. Someone wants to, if someone wants to come, if someone wants to come and say something regardless of what they're saying, we're happy to listen to it, we're not going to get angry, we're not going to get aggressive, we'll nicely listen to it. In fact, we'll be affectionate to them, we'll be loving to them because that's our nature. So we found that when everybody started walking together, completely different type of energy started coming. And I noticed that the government tried everything. That means whatever power they had, they started stopping the journey. They took it off, used it to the police, but nothing was working. And the effect of the journey was increasing. Why did this happen? Because you all helped us. Not only in India, not only in India, Bharat Jodo is an idea that is in all your hearts. And it is about respecting each other and being affectionate to each other. It is about not being violent towards each other, not being arrogant. I can see my Sikh brothers here. Your Guru Nanak Ji, his entire life was about this only. That be humble, be affectionate, and we walked nothing compared to Guru Nanak Ji. I read somewhere that Guru Nanak Ji had gone all the way to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He had gone to Thailand. He had gone to Sri Lanka. So these giants were doing Bharat Jodo much before we were born. And I can say the same. I can say the same for my friends from Karnataka, Basavana Ji, my friends from Kerala, Narayana Guru Ji. So every state in India has had these giants, Adi Shankaracharya, and every single one of them said, listen to each other, be respectful, not just of your own religion, not just of your own language, not just of your own culture, be respectful for all cultures, all religions, all languages, because they are in fact the same. And the assault that is taking place in India, it's taking place on our way of life. Sam Pitrodha Ji said that he grew up with all people living happily, different languages, different religions, and that is what is being attacked. So the tradition in India, and again something leaders like Guru Nanak Ji, Basavana Ji, Gandhi Ji emphasized, was not to be under the impression that you know everything, that the world is too big, too complicated for any one person to think that he understands everything and he knows everything. And so really that is the disease that Sam sort of outlined. That is the disease that we have a group of people in India who are absolutely convinced that they know everything. In fact, I think they think maybe they know even more than God. They could sit down with God and have a conversation and explain to him about what is going on. And of course our Prime Minister is one such specimen. I think if you sat Modi Ji down next to God, Modi Ji would start explaining to God how the universe works. And God would get confused that what have I created? So these are funny things but really this is what is going on. We have a group of people who understand everything. They can speak to scientists and explain science to them. They can speak to historians and explain history to them. They can explain warfare to the army, flying to the Air Force, whatever they want they can, you know. And at the heart of it is mediocrity. That they actually don't understand anything. Because in life you cannot understand anything if you are not ready to listen. There is something, the biggest lesson I learned from Bharacholayatra that there is something to learn from everybody. We are much older than those children. But I can guarantee you they can teach us all how to sing. I was looking at them and I was saying I can't sing like that. It's impossible. So when you look at another person, you have to appreciate that they have an experience, they have a life, they have seen things and maybe you can learn a lot from them. Maybe if you open your ears you can listen to them and learn from them. And that is actually the Indian tradition. If you look at our country, you will find that our country has the ability to absorb any idea that comes. India has never rejected any idea. Everybody who has come to India has been received with open arms and their ideas have been absorbed in India. And that is the India that we like. India that respects the rest of the world. India that is humble. India that listens. India that is affectionate. And that is the India that you represent. You would not be here if you did not agree with these values. If you believed in anger, hatred, arrogance, you would be sitting in a BJP meeting. And I would be doing monkey bath. So thank you very much for holding up the Indian flag in America, showing the American people what it means to be Indian, respecting them, respecting their culture, learning from them and also allowing them to learn from you. You make us all proud and we think of our country. You are all our ambassadors. When America says Indian people are extremely intelligent, Indian people are masters of IT, Indian people are respectful. All these ideas that have come, they have come because of you and because of your actions and your behaviors. So I thank you very much for that. I came here this morning. Sam organized the flight. I arrived 16 hours after 16 hours flying 6.30 in the morning. I thought I'd be tired, but I'm not tired at all because of the energy that you have given me. Thank you. Love you, love you. Now they've asked me to answer your questions. See that few questions. That also would not happen in a BJP meeting. Yes. No questions there. Only answers. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. Could you please sit down? Thank you. Thank you. So we have many organizations which support it. Four or five questions. Yes, sir. Quick. Or opinions. Whatever. We can ask people questions. They automatically assume opinions. Yes. So we have women who played major contribution for this program to be successful. We have women empowerment organization which helped us to make this event successful. So they have a question specific to women and I would request Ms. Chanseer Reddy to ask that question. Welcome, Raul G. For California. As a women empowerment association, my name is Chanseer Reddy. So I would like to ask you two questions regarding this women bill that has been, you know, in the court for almost more than half a century. So when the Congress comes in power, the women's reservation rights. So that bill has been there for more than a quarter century. So as a Congress leader, what is your thoughts on it and how are you going to deal with it? That's of my first question. The second question is, you know, in India, it's very hard for women for the safety issue. So what are we going to, you know, offer our next generation of the girls in India? Thank you. So on the women's reservation bill, we are committed to that. We wanted to pass it in the last government, but some of our allies were not too happy with it and they didn't give us the support for that bill. But I'm confident when we come to power, we'll pass that bill. I think part of the answer to your second question lies in the first question. If we empower women, if we involve women in the political system, if we give women space in the governance of the country, if we give women space in the businesses of the country, we will automatically make them safer. So I think involving them in politics, involving them in business, involving them in running the country are the way to give them power. Thank you. Thank you. So we have another Tamil community organization, so who united entire Tamil organizations and they have expressed their support. So they might differ on the congress party, but they have come here for the love of Rahul Gandhi today. So I would like to invite Mr. Pughal if you are here. Yeah. Thank you, Sandeep. Hello, Rahul Ji. My name is Pughal Anbu. I'm the president of Indo-American Society for Science, Reason and Freethought. I also represent Tamuls who live in Bay Area. On behalf of our people and on behalf of people who believe in science, reason and free thought, I would like to point out we are honored, humble, and most truly proud of your journey about opening up the shops of love on the streets of hate all over the India. Tamuls have long tradition of harboring brotherhood mindset throughout their civilization. 3,000 years ago, our forefather said, Yadumure Yawarum Kelir, Perapukkum Yalla Weerkum, translation, all human beings are created equal and every town is our town, everybody is our relative. To us, India is like European Union. With each state having its own language, its own tradition, its own festivals, its own cuisine, dress code, way of living, etc. They are all different, yet we live under one country called India. Therefore, it is deeply saddening to us when someone from the union government trying to impose one language, one culture, one tradition, one religion, one school, etc. Recognizing this diversity to make it a robust country, our billboard leader, the Dravidian icon, former chief minister, Dr. Siananathurai, proclaimed both in parliament and in public forums for Manila Tilsvachi, Mathil Kootachi, which means autonomous rule at the state level and federal rule at the union level. Dear Raghulji, you have studied in America and you have traveled within United States extensively and you know much better than anyone else in this room that America is the best example of federalism. Each state has its own constitution, its own supreme court, apart from federal laws. Whereas in India, Congress Party did have its own share of problems in the past, but the time itself changed. The new thinking has emerged and you are the epitome of the new thinking. You are the pin of hope and the streets of hate in India. Therefore, my question to you is that, like United States of America, what's your thought on making India as a true United States of India? Thank you, Jig. If you read our constitution, the definition of India in the constitution is a union of states. And within our constitution is the idea that the languages, cultures, histories of each one of our states has to be protected under the union. So what you're talking about is already incorporated in our constitution. It's already there. The BJP and the RSS are attacking that idea that you mentioned and also the constitution of India. That's the fact. Now, for me personally, I understand that the Tamil language is more than a language to Tamil people. It is not just a language. It is their history. It is their culture. It is their way of life. And I will never ever allow Tamil language to be threatened. Right? Because for me, threatening the Tamil language is to threaten the idea of India. Just like threatening Bengali or threatening Kannada or threatening Hindi or threatening Punjabi are all attacks on India. Right? So our strength, unlike many other countries, our strength comes from our diversity. Our strength comes from accepting that we are all different but we can work together. And that is an idea that I am sure you and the Congress Party are protecting. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Put your questions brief, respecting everyone's time. I know you have opinions, but please put your questions brief. Next question is Mr. Kartik from Ambedkar King Study Circle. Yes, yes, please appreciate these organizations have put together this amazing event. First of all, there are Telugu, Tamil, Karela, Kannada, all of them together to make even successful respect those organizations. Thank you. We'll do, we'll do. We've got five questions, don't worry. There's more than enough. We can add a few also if you want. Hello, Rahulji. I'm Ganapati from the Ambedkar King Study Circle. First of all, welcome to San Francisco Bay Area. We wholeheartedly thank you for taking up the fight against the fascism. So this rise of fascism is not a mere coincidence. So we believe in the social and the economic equality in the society, and the inequality actually creates a conducive environment for fascism to emerge. So my question is like, what is the plan of the Indian National Congress to approve the economic and the social inequality which creates this condition for fascism in the Indian subcontinent and also at the global level? One of the things that we are suggesting is when we were in government, we had carried out a caste census. And the idea behind the caste census was to take an x-ray of Indian society to find out what are the exact demographics of our country? What are the different communities? What are the different castes? How many people in each community? How many people in each caste? Because without understanding our demographics and without understanding who is who, it is very difficult to distribute wealth, distribute power effectively. So that was one idea that we had and we've been putting pressure on the BJP to release the caste census, the numbers in the caste census. They are, of course, not doing it. And we'll continue to apply pressure and if we come to power, we will do that. But we are committed as the Congress Party to make India a fair place. And we understand deeply that India today, in terms of its treatment of Dalits, tribals, poor people, minorities, is not a fair place. And there's many, many things that can be done. There is the Niai scheme that we had which is aimed at providing a minimum income to all Indians. There are ideas like Manrega. I think an increase in public education, increase in public health care, I think these are all things that can be done to make India a much more equal and fair place. Thank you. Thank you. We have our next question from Silicon Valley Christian Community. Mr. Jay. Now the parliament, lots of our seats are increasing to 888. What's your take on it? There's a proposal that, you know, Moriji is actually working on. It is going to entirely be based on population. It is going to tilt, you know, the orientation towards the highly populous states, getting more and more land share revenues and everything. So how is it going to change everything? You know, minorities are going to get even more depressed. You know, majorities are going to be, you know, making everybody vulnerable. So what's your take on it? I'd have to look at exactly how they're thinking about doing it. But I think one has to be very, very careful when one changes the representative structure of a country. So I'd be quite interested in understanding exactly how they've come up with the number 800 and what are the criteria that they're using. These things should not be done flippantly. India is a conversation. India is a negotiation between its languages, between its people, between its histories and cultures. And that negotiation has to be fair. Meaning all parts of India, all the states of India should feel that there is fairness in the process of negotiation. If I see exactly how they're coming up with 800 and what is the design, then I would be able to answer whether I agree with the number 800, but I haven't seen the way they're calculating it. Yeah, but it depends how the ratios change. Yeah, it is currently based on the population, but you'll have to see how the ratios change. I think the parliament house, these are distractions. The real issues in India are unemployment, price rise, spread of anger and hatred, a crumbling education system, price of education, price of health care. These are the real issues. BJP can't really discuss them, so then they have to do the whole skeptic thing. They're lying down and doing all that. Aren't you happy I'm not lying down? Thank you, thank you. One more question from... One more question. One more question. One more question. So this is from the Bay Area Muslim community. One question from the Bay Area Muslim community. This is Mr. Mohammad Khan. Please, go ahead. Rahul ji, thank you so much for coming all the way here. I think this is something which we were starving for, as Muslims from the Bay Area. We all want to thank you for your time and for your efforts in coming all the way here. As you know that Muslims have the security threat today. It was never before. The way we see today, whenever we call and talk to anybody, it's like, what's going on? There are so many different laws which are getting implemented, which were not even implemented earlier. If it is just of the security, it's okay. But then if it goes on and on, Muslims are putting in the jails. For the crime suite, they have not committed. What strategy will you adopt? Or what hope are you giving to Indian Muslims? Which is going to change the whole thing back to the point where we were and get back to the normal stream to develop India? The best way for me to explain that is the line, that is the best way I can say it, which is that it is felt most strongly by the Muslim community, because it is done most directly to them. But in fact, it is being done to all minorities. I can guarantee you that the same way you're feeling attacked, I can guarantee you my Sikh brothers are feeling the same thing. I can guarantee you my Christian brothers are feeling the same, and sisters are feeling the same thing. I can guarantee you the Dalit community is feeling the same thing. Tribal community is feeling the same thing. In fact, anybody who is poor in India today, when he looks at the extreme wealth that a limited number of people have, in some way he feels the same thing that you feel, that what is going on? How is it that these five people have lakhs of crores and I have nothing to eat? So you feel it most because it is directed at you most aggressively. But it is a phenomena that is taking place against everybody in India. And you cannot cut hatred with hatred. It's impossible. You know that. You can only cut hatred with love and affection. And I was surprised at how easy it was to erase hatred in India. I was shocked. I didn't imagine that it would be so effective I didn't imagine it. Indian people, as you yourself have said, they don't believe in this stuff. They don't believe in hating each other. They don't believe in killing each other. This is a small group of people who have got control of the system, who have got control of the media and who are fully supported by big money. But this is not the large mass of Indian people. I can guarantee you, I walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. I can guarantee you there are more people who believe in love and affection than hatred. Millions and millions more. So don't be pessimistic. Also I'd like to point out another thing. This happens periodically in India. What is happening, for example, to the Muslim community in India today? Happened to the Dalit community in the 80s. If you went to UP in the 80s, the Dalit community, what is happening with the Muslims was happening with the Dalit there. So periodically this type of stuff happens and we have to challenge it. We have to fight it. And we have to fight it with affection, not fight it with hatred. We will do that. Thank you Rahul Ji. One last question from the most important community of the entire world, that is students. So we have one interesting student from UC Berkeley who wants to literally begging me to ask one last question. She promised that she would conclude it. Welcome Rahul Sir. And thank you so much for your win in Karnataka. You've made a lot of people very, very happy. We've literally cried tears of joy. So thank you. So my question for you would be we have a lot of students who helped out here today. We really feel passionately for your cause, which is our cause now. But what would you say to us? We want to go back to India. We want to represent our country. But we see how the athletes, the youth, the wrestlers in recent times are being treated. It's very undignified. We feel very discouraged. So what would you say to us to kind of bring the sense of wanting to go back out there for our country? Please realize that there's a huge distortion. India is not what the media shows. The media likes to show a particular narrative. It likes to promote a particular narrative. That is actually not what is going on in India. It was very clear to me in the Yatra. It's in the media's interest to project these things. It helps the BJP. So don't think that everything you see in the media is the truth. And as a young person, your country needs you. And your skills and your energy will be very useful to your country. So if you feel like going back, do go back and help out. Thank you. Thank you, Rahul Ji. Thank you. I picked up Rahul Ji somewhere in the morning at 8 o'clock. It's 8 o'clock. So please, one minute. Let me conclude it. He's a normal human being like us. He's not super human. He's a normal human being. Please, one minute. Let me thank the audience. So last question, I like the question, which is what do I suggest that you do? Right? You are all ambassadors of a particular vision of our country. You believe in humility. You believe in respect. You believe in being affectionate to each other. So do not answer anger and hatred with love and affection. Show them that you're not like them. You should support the ideas that will defeat the BJP. Thank you very much. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Now, please return to your seats. We're going to have national anthem. National anthem, please return to your seat. Please return to your seats. We have Indian national anthem. Please stand up. Return to your seats. Stand up. Can you please? Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. I would like to just... No. So please, guys... Secure. Okay. Everyone. No. Can you... Secure. Secure. Okay. Avalji. No. If you don't mind. Yes.