Bill Gates opens window to US for Amethi locals

It was a diametrically opposite setting to the privileged surroundings billionaire Bill Gates is accustomed to. Away from his 66,000-sq ft estate with a 60-foot swimming pool, the Microsoft chief braved the sultry heat and dusty roads of Rae Bareli and Amethi in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday with Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi for company.

Gates invited the villagers of Amethi to the US and is expected to adopt a village in Bihar during his visit to the state on Wednesday. Though the purpose of his visit was unknown, sources said the philanthropist plans to develop Amethi as an IT hub. “You must learn computers… teach your children to use computers and then you can come to America,” Gates told a member of a women’s self-help group. The women were stunned when one of Gandhi’s aides translated what Gates had said.

The US business magnate is likely to adopt the Gularia village in Khagaria. The village lacks basic amenities like running water, electricity, schools and health centres. Accompanied by officials of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he is also scheduled to meet Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and discuss steps taken for the welfare of the downtrodden.
Gates’s arrival in Amethi created a frenzy among the locals in Gandhi’s constituency. A journalist from Jayas, a small town in Amethi, said women were spellbound on learning that one of the richest people had met and spoken to them. During a State Bank of India visit, Gandhi asked the manager if he knew the fair-skinned guest.     Turn to p18

Slightly embarrassed, the manager replied in the negative. He, however, jumped out of his chair to greet Gates when informed that the foreigner had developed the Microsoft Windows he was working on.

Gandhi and Gates made brief stopovers in several villages to visit hospitals, banks and even interact with farmers about their fields and crops. Regarded as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century by Time magazine, Gates was full of praise when informed that the poor are treated free of cost at eye camps run under the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojna.

The Congress leader kept the media at a distance to ensure the hush-hush visit was not politicised. Sources said Gandhi and Gates could spend the night at a humble dwelling in a village and extensively tour Sonia Gandhi’s constituency the next day. In January last year, Gandhi had taken British foreign secretary David Miliband to the constituency and the two had spent the night at a Dalit family’s hut.