Did Qatar’s Ambassador organise Rahul Gandhi’s Hudson seminar, also attended by Hinduphobic Sunita Viswanath of HfHR? New revelations deepen suspicions about his 2023 US visit

In the labyrinthine world of international diplomacy and political intrigue, few revelations stir the pot quite like a casual conversation between two commentators that peels back layers of secrecy. A recent clip from a discussion between Professor Muqtedar Khan, an Indian-American academic known for his insights on Islam and global affairs, and Dr. Qamar Cheema, a Pakistani “strategic analyst”, has thrust a spotlight on an underreported facet of Rahul Gandhi’s 2023 US visit. 

In the undated exchange which is going viral on social media and rightfully ringing alarm bells in the Indian diplomatic circles, Khan casually mentions that the seminar featuring Gandhi at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, during his 2023 visit was organized by none other than Qatar’s Ambassador to the United States, Sheikh Meshaal bin Hamad Al-Thani. 

Speaking with Pakistani commentator Qamar Cheema, Khan recalled arriving at the think tank only to find the gates locked. The reason? A seminar by Rahul Gandhi was underway.

As he waited, a limousine pulled up. Out stepped a man who also sought entry. The two were allowed in together. Inside, the man revealed his identity: he was none other than the Qatar Ambassador to the United States. More strikingly, he told Khan that he had organised Rahul Gandhi’s seminar at the Hudson Institute.

Remember Rahul Gandhi’s 2023 US trip before PM Modi’s state visit?

He met Soros-funded hindu hater Sunita Viswanath & Muslim Brotherhood linked IAMC at @HudsonInstitute – meeting reportedly arranged by Qatar – a notorious islamist state, not “friendly” to India.

Question why. pic.twitter.com/IurKrJYr39

— Viktor (@desishitposterr) September 18, 2025

For those piecing together the puzzle of Gandhi’s 10-day tour in June 2023, a trip that preceded PM Modi’s high-profile state visit, these words are figuratively dynamite.

Rahul Gandhi in Hudson Institute alongside Hinduphobic Sunita Vishwanath

The Hudson event, whose pictures shared on X later showed Gandhi sitting alongside Sunita Viswanath, co-founder of the controversial Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), already raised eyebrows for its alignment with anti-India narratives. Viswanath’s organization, backed by George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and intertwined with Islamist advocacy groups like the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an entity with alleged ties to terror-linked outfits such as Jamaat-e-Islami, painted a picture of a platform hostile to India’s nationalist trajectory. 

Sunita Viswanath’s Hinduphobia exposed

Rahul Gandhi’s presence alongside Sunita Viswanath was not incidental. Her record of Hinduphobic activism and pro-Islamism is well established. Last year, The Wire had published her op-ed on Janmashtami, in which she grotesquely compared the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza to the trials of Krishna and the Pandavas in the Mahabharata, even likening Israel to Kansa. By twisting Hindu epics to justify sympathy for Hamas, a terrorist outfit responsible for massacring Israeli civilians, Sunita insulted Sanatan Dharma and whitewashed jihadist violence.

Her organisation Hindus for Human Rights has repeatedly used Hindu symbols to delegitimise Hindu identity. In February 2024, HfHR hosted an event at UC Berkeley titled “Zionism and Hindu Supremacy: Partners Against Pluralism,”equating Hindu identity with “supremacy” and pairing it with far-left demonisation of Zionism. Speakers included members of Jewish Voice for Peace, a Soros-funded group notorious for anti-Israel boycotts. This was not an exception, HfHR has endorsed the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference, spread disinformation on CAA and NRC that fueled the 2020 Delhi riots, and even released a “toolkit” to malign India during PM Modi’s 2023 US visit.

According to OSINT group DisinfoLab, HfHR was created in 2019 by IAMC and OFMI, Islamist advocacy groups with ties to Jamaat-e-Islami networks. Sunita herself co-founded Women for Afghan Women, funded by Soros’s Open Society Foundations. In India, HfHR’s official account has already been withheld by X (Twitter) for violating laws with its anti-Hindu propaganda. Simply put, Viswanath has built her career on attacking Hinduism, smearing India, and aligning with Islamist and Soros-backed lobbies. For Rahul Gandhi to sit beside her and echo her talking points at Hudson Institute was not coincidence; it was complicity.

IAMC and the Islamist nexus, and Qatar’s alarming role

IAMC, for instance, has lobbied aggressively against India at forums like the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, peddling tales of minority persecution that echo Gandhi’s own rhetoric on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

But the Qatari ambassador’s involvement? That elevates the speculation from eyebrow-raising to outright alarming. Qatar, a diminutive Gulf powerhouse with outsized influence, is no stranger to controversy. It hosts the political office of Hamas, a designated terrorist group by several nations, and has been accused of funneling funds to Islamist causes worldwide. Ambassador Al-Thani, a seasoned diplomat from the ruling Al-Thani family, assumed his post in Washington in 2016 amid a regional blockade by Saudi Arabia and allies over Qatar’s alleged support for extremism. Yet, here he is, reportedly orchestrating an event for India’s opposition leader. Why? What strings were pulled behind the scenes, and what whispers exchanged in closed doors might have shaped the discourse?

Familiar tropes, Foreign agendas

This nugget only deepens the long-held suspicions about the intent of Gandhi’s 2023 US odyssey. Ostensibly a speaking tour to engage the diaspora and “think tanks,” it veered into territory that now reeks of subversion. Gandhi’s addresses at venues like the National Press Club, Stanford University, and the Hudson Institute were laced with familiar tropes: demonising Hindutva, whitewashing the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), an offshoot of Jinnah’s partition-pushing Muslim League, as “secular,” and decrying the BJP as communal while positioning Congress as the beacon of peace. 

These weren’t just slips; they dovetailed neatly with the agendas of his hosts. At Hudson, flanked by Viswanath, Gandhi amplified narratives that HfHR and IAMC have pushed for years, differentiating “Hinduism” from “Hindutva” to demonize the latter, stoking fears over NRC and CAA that fueled the 2020 Delhi riots, and aligning with Soros-funded campaigns against India’s economic pillars like the Adani Group.

The secret White House visit?

The secret White House visit, as reported by Seema Sirohi in The Economic Times, adds another layer of opacity. Tucked amid effusive praise for Gandhi’s “maturity” on foreign policy, the article revealed a covert trip that bypassed India’s Ministry of External Affairs and government protocols. For an opposition figure to slip into the Biden administration’s lair without fanfare raises red flags: Who did he meet? What assurances or agendas were brokered? 

Commentators like those from HinduACTion pointed out the event’s ties to “Pakistan proxies,” including Khalistani and Kashmiri Islamist elements, while journalists like Sunanda Vashisht lamented the lack of details on his White House interlocutors. Entrepreneurs in the US diaspora even speculated about election meddling in India’s 2024 polls, evoking regime-change whispers.

A pattern of seeking foreign intervention

Gandhi’s track record only fuels the fire. His pleas for Western intervention aren’t new. In a 2023 Cambridge speech, he peddled misinformation to beg Europe and the US to “restore democracy” in India, ignoring robust electoral processes. Back in 2021, during a Harvard Kennedy School interaction, he prodded Ambassador Nicholas Burns for American commentary on India’s “internal matters,” leaving the host stunned. 

These aren’t isolated; recall his 2018 Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, where he later admitted to secret meetings with Chinese ministers post-Doklam standoff, or his post-event chats with Chinese envoys. Such patterns suggest a willingness to court foreign powers at India’s expense, all in service of domestic political gains.

The coordinated push: Qatar, Soros, and Islamist lobbies

Now, layer in Qatar’s role. As a key US ally, hosting the Al Udeid Air Base and mediating in Afghanistan, Qatar wields soft power through energy ties and Al Jazeera’s global reach. Its funding of Islamist networks, from the Muslim Brotherhood to Hamas, positions it as a counterweight to India’s Gulf partnerships. Why would its ambassador facilitate Gandhi’s platform, especially alongside Soros proxies and IAMC figures like those linked to Minhaj Khan? The Javits Centre event in New York, promoted via registration forms tied to radical mosques and ICNA affiliates (with terror glorification histories), underscores the Islamist undercurrents.

Speculatively, this points to a coordinated push: Qatar providing the diplomatic grease, Soros the financial muscle, and US-based lobbies the amplification. Behind closed doors at Hudson or the White House, discussions might have ranged from undermining Modi’s foreign policy, perhaps on Kashmir or CAA, to laying groundwork for post-2024 scenarios. Gandhi’s alignment with these actors mirrors Congress’s broader dalliances, like Salil Shetty of Soros’s Open Society Foundations joining the Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022, or endorsing anti-CAA protests that spiraled into violence.

A symposium of anti-India influences

In a nation rising as a global counterweight to China, such foreign entanglements aren’t just suspicious; they’re a potential breach of sovereignty. The Khan-Cheema clip, circulating virally on X, revives these ghosts two years later, reminding us that Gandhi’s US trip wasn’t a harmless jaunt. It was a symposium of influences, with Qatar’s ambassador as a pivotal host.

Until transparency pierces the veil, the doubts will fester: Was this diplomacy, or something far more insidious?