Sam Pitroda in Texas: 'Rahul Gandhi is no Pappu, he is...'

Sam Pitroda said Rahul Gandhi is a highly educated strategist.

Addressing the Indian diaspora in Texas, senior Congress leader Sam Pitroda declared on Monday that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is “not Pappu”.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with Sam Pitroda at an Indian diaspora event in New York.(PTI file photo)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) often mocks Rahul Gandhi by calling him "Pappu".

Sam Pitroda said Rahul Gandhi is a highly educated strategist.

"He (Rahul Gandhi) has a vision contrary to what BJP promotes by spending crores of rupees. I must tell you, he is no Pappu. He is highly educated, well-read, a strategist with deep thinking on any subject and sometimes it is not very easy to understand him," Pitroda said, per ANI.

Sam Pitroda, the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, said Rahul Gandhi champions inclusion.

"Going to school in the early fifties, Gandhian thoughts were the core of our learning. Inclusion and diversity were not just words -- this was what we live by and when I begin to see changes in our society, which attack the basic fabric, I worry about it. So the idea... is to make sure that we respect our people irrespective of race, religion, language, or state. We create the same opportunities for everybody, we provide dignity to labour and these are the issues that Rahul Gandhi is championing and that makes me very happy," he said.

Pitroda said that Rahul Gandhi's agenda is to celebrate diversity.

"Rahul Gandhi has a different agenda which is more focused on something that we have been trying to address for a long time but have not been able to quite address well and that is inclusion, celebration of diversity..," he said.

Pitroda explained that democracy is not that simple and cannot be taken for granted.

"Democracy is not that simple... Democracy requires work from a large number of people like us. We can't take it for granted because there are people who are focused on hijacking democracy. We have seen it in many countries... At the time of independence, there was this fervour about the independence movement and leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Maulana Azad, Sardar Patel, and Subhash Chandra Bose were very clear about the kind of nation they wanted to build. Everyone understood what freedom meant and the opportunities free India would create... I want you to join the Indian Overseas Congress, improve the quality of our activities, and quantity of our members and bring in a more diverse group of people," he said.

Rahul Gandhi is currently visiting the United States, where he will take part in several interactions.

With inputs from PTI, ANI