NEW DELHI: Sunita Viswanath, a United States-based women’s and human rights activist, is in the media spotlight over her alleged meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his recent visit to the country. Sunita Viswanath is also a close associate of George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, who is also known as a staunch critic of the Narendra Modi government.


What’s The Controversy Surrounding Sunita Viswanath?


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Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Union Minister Smriti Irani made a blistering attack on the Congress party and questioned Rahul Gandhi's alleged meeting in the USA with Sunita Vishwanath. During her press conference, Irani claimed that Sunita Vishwanath is a member of an organisation owned by billionaire investor George Soros, who is allegedly involved in anti-India activities. 


Irani sought to know why is Rahul Gandhi "hobnobbing" with those who are funded by George Soros as it is known to everyone what Soros intends to do. While levelling the allegation, Irani also produced a photograph before the media in which Rahul Gandhi can be seen sitting with Vishwanath. 


Irani further claimed that Rahul Gandhi's trip to New York had been coordinated by Tanzeem Ansari, project director of Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), which has links to the Jamaat-e-Islam - both hardline Islamist organisations.


"When it is clear to every Indian what George Soros intends to do, why is Rahul Gandhi hobnobbing with those who are funded by Soros? It is also evident that this is not the only Soros connection. Even in Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka, the Global Vice President of the Open Society Foundation, funded by George Soros, was found accompanying Rahul Gandhi," Irani said while addressing the press conference.


"What is extremely distressing is the link with the Islamic Circle of North America," she said, adding that if one ran a public domain search on the registration process for NRI interaction with Rahul Gandhi in New York, s/he will find the contact of Tazeem Ansari," she added.


It may be recalled that former Wayanad Congress MP Rahul Gandhi went on a 10-day visit to the USA from May 31 and participated in programs in three cities, San Francisco, Washington DC, and New York. However, his US trip was mired in controversy due to his anti-government statements and his meeting with controversial figures like Sunita Vishwanath and Tanzeem Ansari.


Irani’s scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi came after an FIR was registered against Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP's IT department in Karnataka. The Karnataka police registered an FIR against Malviya based on a complaint from Ramesh Babu, a member of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. The FIR accuses Malviya of promoting enmity between groups and instigating people through a video allegedly mocking Rahul Gandhi that he posted on social media. 


"The Gandhi family once again proved the extent that they can go to suppress the truth even after they get the power in a state (Karnataka). But information available on public domain reveals that the meeting was convened by those with links with Jamaat and the meeting was with those with links with George Soros," Irani said. 


So, Who Is Sunita Viswanath?


 


Besides being a women's rights activist, Sunita Viswanath is the co-founder of Hindus for Human Rights - a US-based organisation. She has also been accused of being a “proxy” for George Soros in the backdrop of allegations that her NGO for Afghan women received funds from the billionaire US investor.


Born in Chennai, she is said to have moved to the United States at an early age. In 2001, she co-founded the nonprofit humanitarian organization Women for Afghan Women (WAW). In 2011, Sunita Viswanath co-founded Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus - a progressive Hindu movement aligned with social justice commitments to anti-casteism and anti-racism.


In 2015, she was honoured as a White House "Champion of Change" for her work with Sadhana. In 2019, she co-founded Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), a US-based advocacy organization that aims to promote religious pluralism in North America and South Asia.


In May 2021, Viswanath was a named defendant in a defamation case filed by the Hindu American Foundation, which was dismissed in 2022. Though she was awarded the Feminist Majority Foundation's Global Women's Rights Award in 2011 for her work with WAW, she is no longer affiliated with it.


She holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Douglass College, Rutgers University and a MA in sociology from SNDT Women's University. Sunita Viswanath was first married to writer Suketu Mehta but she later married Stephan Shaw.