When Bill Gates, the second richest man in the world and Rahul Gandhi, the rising star of the Congress, got together in Amethi, the friendship between the philanthropist and the Gandhi family came to the fore.
Gates? sudden appearance in Rahul?s constituency is not so fortuitous after all. The millionaire philanthropist?s wife, Melinda Gates, has been frequently visiting Congress president Sonia Gandhi?s constituency, Rae Bareilly. According to sources in the Gandhi camp, Melinda Gates has quietly been working in Rae Bareilly, dealing with issues related to women?s health in local hospitals and primary healthcare centres through her charitable organisation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Foundation also funds AIDS awareness programmes in India to a large extent. According to sources, Gates? visit had been planned a month-and-a-half in advance and only the Gandhi family security detail had been alerted, and not the local security apparatus.
And the man who is associated with a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organisations and scientific research programmes through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, did not let the people of Amethi down. While interacting with the 300-odd women of the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojna, a self-help group of women in Jais, his first stop, Gates showed a keen interest in understanding their work and, in turn, explained them the importance of learning computers. Gates even said he would make sure that once they acquired computer education, these women get a break in the Silicon Valley.
He also promised to develop Amethi and adjoining Rae Bareli, the twin parliamentary constituencies of Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, as an IT hub. Playing the perfect interpreter, Rahul translated Gates queries for the local women in Hindi and translated their answers back to Gates.
In an unusual whirlwind day-long tour down dusty village roads, the software czar also spent some time with the manager of the State Bank of India manager at Gauriganj, trying to understand how the bank makes manages the accounts of the SHGs and also inquired about the various social and health sectors schemes that are being run by the Centre. He also visited the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, run by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in Amethi. He is reportedly said to have taken keen interest in upgrading the services at the hospital. The visit was kept a closely guarded secret and even top state Congress leaders were unaware of the move, as Gandhi had intended it to be a quiet affair, away from the media gaze.
According to reports, Rahul is trying to convince Gates to stay in Amethi for the night and proposes to take him to the same village where he spent a night along with British foreign secretary David Miliband in a ramshackle hut belonging to a poor Dalit woman Shivkumari Kori.
It may be mentioned that Melinda Gates, wife of Bill Gates and co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, had visited a village in Rae Bareli in March this year and took stock of the neo-natal programme being run by her foundation. She had also met Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati and discussed various schemes being implemented by her foundation. She also said that the foundation would further invest Rs 250 crore for the welfare of women and children in the state.