What are BJP’s charges linking Sonia Gandhi to George Soros?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has upped its attack on the Congress, alleging a connection between Sonia Gandhi and Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros. A day after the saffron party levelled allegations against the former Congress chief, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said these alleged links are a “serious” concern.

“It is an important issue that I want to raise without doing politics over it. The links between Sonia Gandhi and George Sores are serious. We do not want to see it by giving a political spin,” he reportedly said.

The Congress has dismissed the BJP’s charges.

Let’s take a closer look.

BJP’s allegations against Sonia, Soros

In a series of posts on X on Sunday (December 8), the BJP claimed that Sonia Gandhi , as the co-president of the Forum of Democratic Leaders in the Asia-Pacific (FDL-AP), was “linked” to an organisation funded by the “George Soros Foundation.”

“Notably, the FDL-AP Foundation has expressed their views that treat Kashmir as a separate entity,” the saffron party said in its tweet.

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“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.

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. pic.twitter.com/rxq16s2oJY

— BJP (@BJP4India) December 8, 2024

The BJP further alleged 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.”

The saffron party said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s conference on the Adani Group was “live telecast” by Soros-funded OCCRP (Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project).

OCCRP is an investigative journalism platform focusing on stories of organised crime and corruption.

In another tweet, the BJP pointed out that Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has purportedly “acknowledged George Soros as an ‘old friend’”. “It’s something truly noteworthy,” the saffron party wrote.

Speaking to reporters today (December 9), Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Rijiju urged all political parties to “unite” against “anti-India forces”.

“I think that few issues before the country shouldn’t be seen with political lenses. George Soros and his links that have come to light, we do not see it as an issue relating [to the] Congress party, Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi. We should take the issue seriously — if it is related to anti-India forces,” he said.

Opposition hits back

The opposition parties have slammed the BJP over its accusations against Sonia Gandhi.

Rejecting the charges, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram dubbed them “dark fantasies” that should be confined to the “dark web”.

“These deep state theories should be confined to the dark web and not serious political discourse. People have dark, morbid fantasies and they can continue to have them, and there will be no credence given to all these conspiracy theories. We are always for the sovereignty and unity of India. We are patriots, we are nationalists and we are doing nothing that is against the integrity of India,” he told NDTV.

RJD MP Manoj Jha asked the BJP to investigate its “conspiracy theories”. “When the government and its top leadership started to look into conspiracy theories, it means there is something that they want to hide. You are in the government, get things investigated,” he said.

BJP on OCCRP, US link

The BJP’s allegations against Sonia Gandhi came days after it accused the US State Department of trying to “destabilise” India by targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“In fact, 50 per cent of OCCRP’s funding comes directly from the US State Department. OCCRP has served as a media tool for carrying out a Deep State agenda,” it alleged in a post adding that the “Deep State had a clear objective to destabilise India by targeting Prime Minister Modi.”.

The Deep State had a clear objective to destabilise India by targeting Prime Minister Modi. To achieve this, they turned to OCCRP, instructing the organisation to provide material aimed at damaging PM Modi's and India’s image.

Congress then exploited this material to launch… pic.twitter.com/v0kqKVltQL

— BJP (@BJP4India) December 5, 2024

The US has termed the BJP’s allegations “disappointing”. As per PTI, a spokesperson at the US embassy said the US government has been a champion of media freedom around the world.

“It’s disappointing that the ruling party in India would make these kinds of accusations,” the US embassy spokesperson said on Saturday. “The US government works with independent organisations on programming that supports professional development and capacity building training for journalists. This programming does not influence the editorial decisions or direction of these organisations,” the official reportedly said.

Reacting to the US embassy’s statement, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said, “Yesterday I read the statement of the US embassy officials again and again. They admitted that the US government funds OCCRP and Soros’ foundation also funds it.”

“The job of OCCRP and Soros is to ruin India’s economy and defame the Modi government in connivance with opposition leaders, he alleged in a tweet in Hindi.

With inputs from agencies