Welcome Speech by SP.
Sam Pitroda' s speech in Santa California.
It is a special privilege and honor to be here in Silicon Valley to welcome Rahul Gandhi to you. Thanking Rahul Gandhi for taking time from his busy schedule for 6 days and spending with us. He came in the morning at 7 am & he is here with us at 12-00. He will have a major event tomorrow at Stanford University. Then we go to Washington DC- where we have serious interaction with Press, critical leaders, think tanks people, NGOS' & Business leaders, then we go to New York, where we shall have lunch with a group of intellectuals, another lunch with a group of Artisans, creative people, & cultural people. Then we have a Mega event with Indian the diaspora.
I am delighted to get to gather here. Indian Overseas congress is in 32 countries besides the Middle East USA & Canada happens to be a priority. It is not an easy task for us to arrange public discourses with Rahul Gandhi in different parts of the US. Whenever we organize a meeting for Rahul Gandhi. Hundreds & hundreds of requests come to see him personally, take photos with him etc. Unfortunately we cannot entertain all the requests because of lack of time.
But I must say that enthusiasm during these proposed visits is much more than what I have seen before. It is because of partly the recent election assembly victory of Karnataka state & mainly because of R G's 4000 KM, 150 days in13 Indian states- Bharat Jodo Yatra. He met thousands & thousands of people during this Yatra. I saw images of 50,000 people walking with him, absolutely mind boggling. I believe this is the turning point not only for our party but for the future of India.
We are here & we will be visiting the Indian diaspora in different countries very soon. Because we believe that Indian democracy is the larger public good. We have 1.4 billion people. So our democracy has to be vibrant & alive. I am deeply worried about the existing status of our different institutions. They are captured, our civil society is not allowed to function and is viewed as a watchdog. We have lost logical rational conversation with all of them. You see on Indian Television what goes on & you will see what will happen to the next young generation of Indians. When they start their life as a workforce, what will their life be like in future of India!
I worry a lot about what is going on in India. I am sure many of you will feel the same way. We want to have a large conversation with people who stay abroad. Because Indian democracy is passing through some serious strains. That is the situation in many parts of the world. We have in the US since the last 4 years many confusion regarding the functioning of Democracy. We are not still done with it. Even in some countries like Mexico, Turkey & others nations the same situations prevail regarding democracy. Democracy is going through serious challenges for its survival throughout the world.
Today in India, Jobs are a major crisis. We are not creating enough jobs for our young people particularly according to their skill. We have planned to discuss AI (Artificial Intelligence). On the one hand we know the new technology will make young people more jobless in many fields. On the other hand we need many more jobs. Our challenges are very special.
We need young minds like Rahul who can lead the country. We need someone with an open mind, we need who has some broader exposure, global experience that is the reason we are all here interacting with large numbers of people. I know the road ahead is very complicated, it is not that simple. Because our people of India have something in their minds which is hard to get rid of. "That India belongs to only Hindus."
Our idea of India is very different which has been threatened by the present rulers of India. Our core ideas of India are of diversity, inclusion, truth and love are challenged. This hurts me. At my age, believe me, it hurts me very emotionally. In my old age, I will fell that what type of India I will give to my grandchildren in future.
We have made a lot of progress in the last 75 years. In fact we are here because India gave us education at a very low cost. The credit goes to our founding fathers Pundit Nehru & others who had vision to build IITS, IIMs, laboratories, space programmed, atomic energy & Rajiv Gandhi gave push to IT & telecom.
I had a chance to work with him. & I will never forget that he gave meaning to my life. My life had no meaning except as an engineer. Rajiv Gandhi had the political will to give vision to not only my life but to create jobs for millions & millions like us. P M Mody says that nothing has been done in India in the last 70 years, it hurts, but that is ok, because I am used to listening to lies. So I have nothing against individuals. My problem with India is that the idea of India with I am grownup has been challenged.
With this I invite the great son of India, I want to invite a young leader to tell us a little bit about his journey of 4000KMs. I want you, including myself, to learn how he could do it, what he could mean to him, and a little bit about keeping him going. What is his view for taking India forward & the world? Thank You.
