Union Parliamentary Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday said that the George Soros matter has been raised in Parliament and made an appeal to fight against “anti-India forces unitedly”. The BJP had alleged that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi has links to an organisation financed by the George Soros Foundation and which has backed the idea of Kashmir as an independent nation.
Speaking to reporters, Rijiju said, “The matter of George Soros has been raised in Parliament. I don’t want to mention about the details as I am the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, and the House is in session. We want that the House is run properly.”
“However, the reports in the public domain clearly show that there are serious allegations. I do not want to name anyone, be it any party or any leader, there are several people who are linked with George Soros foundation and work against India. We all should work for the country and fight forces which are against our country. My only appeal is that we should be united and fight unitedly against anti-India forces,” he added.
The BJP in a series of posts on X claimed that Sonia Gandhi, as the co-president of the Forum of the Democratic Leaders in Asia Pacific (FDL-AP) Foundation, is linked to an organisation financed by the George Soros Foundation.
“Notably, the FDL-AP Foundation has expressed their views that treat Kashmir as a separate entity,” the party said.
“This association between Sonia Gandhi and an organisation that has backed the idea of Kashmir as an independent nation expresses the influence of foreign entities on India’s internal affairs and the political impact of such connections,” it said.
The BJP further claimed that Sonia Gandhi’s chairmanship of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation led to a partnership with the George Soros Foundation, “displaying the influence of foreign funding on Indian organisations”.
“Rahul Gandhi’s press conference on Adani was live telecast by George Soros-funded OCCRP, which Gandhi used as a source to criticise Adani. It shows nothing but their strong and dangerous relationship and highlights their attempts to derail the Indian economy.
“Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has publicly acknowledged George Soros as an ‘old friend’. It’s something truly noteworthy,” it said.
The BJP’s allegations come after it claimed on Thursday that the US “deep state” colluded with OCCRP and Rahul Gandhi to damage India’s image.
On Saturday, the US rejected BJP’s allegations that organisations funded by its State Department and elements in the American “deep state” were behind attempts to destabilise India through targeted attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and business tycoon Gautam Adani.
A spokesperson at the US embassy described the allegations as “disappointing” and asserted that the US government has been a champion of media freedom around the world.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Sunday said that he would pose 10 questions to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha on the issue. He said media portal Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Hungarian-American businessman have colluded with the opposition to ruin India’s economy and defame the Modi government.