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His great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, delivered a speech at Berkeley in 1949. “The purpose of the visit is two-fold. One is to meet interesting and global thinkers, to have a conversation on what is happening world over on economy, on technology, on opportunities, and really understand different views from experts on the global scene,” technocrat Sam Pitroda, who is involved with the preparations of Gandhi’s visit, told PTI.
Pitroda worked with Gandhi’s father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi for nearly a decade to transform India’s telecom sector. He said Gandhi will meet overseas Indians at an event in New York as part of an outreach by the Congress party. The Congress vice president is scheduled to visit Washington DC. He is likely to address members of the think- tank community at an event organised by the Centre for American Progress, and interact with the corporate world at another programme organised by the US-India Business Council.
Gandhi may meet some members of the ruling Republican Party. “A lot of these meetings are going to be small and private,” Pitroda said. “He wants to understand more about what’s happening globally and what’s the global view of the situation is,” he said. The Congress vice president has often visited the US, but this could possibly be the first time in his political career that Gandhi would hold public meetings, meet political leaders and deliver speeches in the country.
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He said Gandhi would interact with Silicon Valley people, where the technology, talent and Indian “brain power” is concentrated. “So, the idea is if you were to meet a lot of Silicon Valley people, it is better to talk about things in San Francisco.” Gandhi will also address a gathering at the Princeton University.