TMC questions use of state funds

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently in Australia for a three-day visit which will be concluding today. PM Modi’s visit to the country, however, has been under the scanner since the rescheduling of Quad summit. The Sydney community event has propelled people to raise eyebrows.

On Tuesday, PM Modi attended a community event in Sydney where he interacted with the Indian diaspora. Trinamool Congress leader and RTI activist Saket Gokhale however slamming PM, stated that the event was organised to show his “alleged popularity” ahead of 2024 polls. He made the statement in his long Twitter thread.

Here’s what he said:

Saket Gokhale wrote, “PM Modi’s event in Sydney was arranged by 2 organizations namely: 1. Friends of India Australia & 2. Indian Australian Diaspora Foundation. Turns out that the “crowds” brought to Modi’s rally were not average Indian NRIs but paid crowds.”

He followed it up by saying that the two organisations–Indian Australia Diaspora Foundation and Friends of India Australia are closely associated with RSS, the touted ideological wing of BJP.

He wrote, “Indian Australia Diaspora Foundation: The directors of this org are Nihal Agar, Prakash Mehta, Jay Shah, & Rahul Jethi. Nihal Agar heads the “Hindu Council of Australia” & Prakash Mehta is a part of it. Jay Shah & Rahul Jethi are members of ‘Overseas Friends of BJP’.”

“Friends of India Australia: This organization, on its own website, says that it is associated with Ekal Vidyalaya (schools run by RSS) as well as the ‘Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh’. Friends of India Australia is an organization that’s closely associated with the RSS,” Gokhale’s following tweet read.

Emphasizing on partners of IADF, he said that it includes Hindu Council, Sewa International (run by RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Overseas Friends of BJP amongst other Hindutva orgs.

“Indian Australia Diaspora Foundation is a BJP-RSS operation. PM Modi travelled to Australia on a state-visit funded by taxpayers,” he alleged.

Gokhale then wrote, “However, with a view towards 2024 elections, a gala event was organized by BJP-RSS to show his alleged popularity. BJP & RSS brought crowds to the Sydney event & BJP’s news channels ran that propaganda. The BJP is desperate and immensely insecure in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.”

He further stated that the agenda of BJP for 2024 polls is propaganda around PM Modi being “Vishwaguru” and that he is popular overseas. “Truth is BJP-RSS are deploying their foreign ecosystem for this propaganda,” he added.