On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi urged the diaspora in the US to participate in transforming India, and also said that India’s forefathers were all ‘NRIs’. While urging NRIs in the United States to come forward with their ideas for another movement of transforming India, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said, "Mahatma Gandhi was an NRI. Jawaharlal Nehru came back from England. Ambedkar, Patel, Maulana Azad, every one of them went to the outside world, saw the outside world, returned to India and used some of the ideas that they had got and transformed India."
Gandhi, who is on a two-week visit to the US, termed the Non-Resident Indians "as the backbone of the country" and said he was keen to involve them in the work of the party to discuss its vision forward.
Praising the Indian community's contribution to the country's progress, the Gandhi scion said, "Wherever I went, you made me feel proud to be an Indian."
Appealing to the NRIs to support the grand old party, Rahul Gandhi said Congress Party represented a philosophy that is thousands and thousands of years old.
Sam Pitroda, who is chairman of Overseas Congress and spoke before Gandhi, urged the NRIs to stand up for the right cause, he said Congress "needs help today".
Gandhi invited non-resident Indians (NRIs) to "work with the Congress".
"I had many conversations during my trip. Most people were worried about what has happened to the tolerance that used to prevail in India," Gandhi said on Twitter today, without naming any party or leader.
In another post, he said, "NRIs have tremendous knowledge and understanding in different fields. I invite you to work with the Congress and discuss the vision forward." Gandhi said India will have to empower small and medium businesses if it has to produce "millions of jobs".
The Congress vice president had two public interactions in the US -- at University of California, Berkeley and Princeton University -- where he targeted the government on various issues.
Gandhi is in the US on a two-week-long tour.
