Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, arrived at Boston Logan International Airport on April 19, 2025, marking the beginning of his two-day visit to the United States.

During this visit, he is scheduled to visit Brown University in Rhode Island on April 21 and 22, where he will deliver a talk and engage in discussions with faculty members and students.

The event, organised by the Saxena Centre for Contemporary South Asia at Brown’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, aims to foster dialogue and exchange of ideas between Gandhi and the academic community.

Besides his academic engagements, Rahul Gandhi is also expected to meet with members of the Indian diaspora, including non-resident Indians (NRIs), office bearers, and members of the Indian Overseas Congress (IOC), facilitating networking and discussions relevant to the global Indian community.

This visit is Gandhi’s second to the US in recent months. His previous trip in September 2024 included visits to the University of Texas in Dallas and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he interacted with students, faculty, and the Indian diaspora.

That visit had sparked political controversy due to his remarks on India's reservation system, where he advocated for scrapping the system once India becomes a "fair place" and emphasised the need for a caste census to address underrepresentation of OBCs, Dalits, and Adivasis, which he described as the "elephant in the room" in terms of institutional capture.

Rahul Gandhi’s current visit comes amid ongoing legal scrutiny of the Gandhi family by Indian authorities, with cases related to alleged financial irregularities involving the National Herald newspaper and other investigations targeting family members.

Despite this, Gandhi continues to engage actively with international academic and diaspora audiences, maintaining a focus on key social and political issues affecting India and its global community.

Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the US and Brown University is a significant event aimed at strengthening academic and diaspora ties, continuing his dialogue on social justice and representation, and navigating the complex political landscape both in India and abroad.

Agencies