Who Is George Soros, And What Is His Link To The Nehru-Gandhis?

“The biggest and most frightening setback occurred in India where a democratically elected Narendra Modi is creating a Hindu nationalist state, imposing punitive measures on Kashmir, a semi-autonomous Muslim region, and threatening to deprive millions of Muslims of their citizenship.”

 -George Soros at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2020

George Soros, a billionaire investor, attacked the elected head of a sovereign nation at a global business conference in 2020. He did it again. This time at the Munich Security Conference (MSC).

He read a speech attacking PM Modi on the Adani issue. “Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies; their fate is intertwined. Adani Enterprises tried to raise funds in the stock market but failed. Adani is accused of stock manipulation and his stock collapsed like a house of cards. Modi is silent on the subject, but he will have to answer questions from foreign investors and in parliament.”

He further added, “This will significantly weaken Modi's stranglehold on India's federal government and open the door to push for much-needed institutional reforms…I may be naive, but I expect a democratic revival in India".

For many, the out-of-turn jibe by a 92-year-old hedge fund manager at global platforms may seem odd. But those who know Soros and his history of meddling in the internal affairs of sovereign nations, would not be surprised that the Hungarian-American billionaire is hoping or rather working to push for a regime change in India.

Who is George Soros?

George Soros was born in 1930 in Budapest to parents of Jewish heritage, Tivadar and Erzebet, who Soros describes as a "typical anti-Semite Jew." Soros' father was captured and transported to Siberia during World War I, where he taught himself lock-smithy and Russian.

During World War II, Tivadar obtained false identity papers for his family and friends to help them escape Nazis.

Soros enrolled at the London School of Economics to study economics, but was drawn to philosophy, particularly the ideas of Karl Popper, who had introduced the notion of the "open society." Soros would go on to name his organisation the Open Society Foundation.

History of Instigating Financial And Socio-Political Chaos

With a net worth running in billions of dollars, Soros' idea of an open society meant forcing nations and leaders with different ideologies to subscribe to his worldview. Those who resisted were termed dictators and were made to face street veto with the help of a well-funded army of local elites. 

One of the most talked about financial adventures is the event that earned him the nickname "the man who broke the Bank of England." His successful bet on the fall of the British currency reportedly netted him $1 billion.

Not to stop there, in 1997, Soros made bold bets against the currencies of Thailand and Malaysia, just before the economies of those countries collapsed. Clearly, the fortune Soros amassed came at the cost of smaller nations.

In Hungary, a law, ‘Stop Soros’ was passed to put the stringent measure to halt illegal migration in the country, promoted by the local elites funded by Soros’ organisation. The Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, accused Soros of trying to subvert democracy in the country and create unrest by changing the country's demography by encouraging mass migration.

His organisations have been banned in Russia for posing a security threat to the country.

Soros has also been accused of sowing seeds of chaos in the United States, as well.

During the 2011 anti-Wall Street protests, George Soros was rumoured to be the funder behind the movement. While Soros and the protesters deny any connection, he was reported to have indirect financial links with Adbusters, a Canadian group that sought to spark an Arab Spring-style uprising against Wall Street.

Considered close to the Democrats, Soros had backed the nominations of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and has been a vociferous critic of Donald Trump. His organisation had also spent millions of dollars to fund the Black Lives Matter movement and other organisations that demand anti-police measures.

Soros has transferred $18 billion of his personal wealth into his Open Society Foundations, on the back of which, the billionaire torpedoes established government on his whims, toppling local democracy and culture. 

Why India Now?

Soros has had eyes on India for a very long time. In 2014, once the Modi government came to power, the footprints of Soros’s mechanisation could be felt in a number of events that shaped the political discourse in the country.

In January 2015, Soros’s economics think tank, the Institute for New Economic Thinking (I-Net), announced plans to expand its presence in India. I-Net's president, Robert Johnson, expressed a "strong desire" to create an I-Net India, which would bring in economists from around the world while also having "significant manpower" on the ground in India.

Johnson, who was involved in the 1992 short trade against the British pound, founded I-Net after the 2008 financial crisis. The institute sought to fund research on a "fundamental shift in economic thinking." I-Net was already working with Azim Premji University in Bengaluru since 2012 to conduct joint workshops and seminars on Indian development issues.

In 2020, while speaking at Davos, Soros pledged $1 billion to fund a new university network to tackle the spread of nationalism, pointing out China, the USA and India for their “dictatorial” regimes. It was the time when the protests against the CAA were ongoing.

The NGOs and certain intellectuals, such as Harsh Mandar, known to be closely associated with the Open Society, were key players in launching informartion warfare and fuelling protests against the government on CAA.

During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, orchestrated by the Congress, Soros' NGO Open Society Foundations' Vice-President Salil Shetty walked with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on 11 October 2022.

In fact, one of Rahul Gandhi’s aunts was, like Soros, a Hungarian-born Jew and a close friend of Soros as well. In 2009, he flew to Chandigarh to meet 100-year-old Fori Nehru, wife of the late B K Nehru, one of the cousins of Indira Gandhi.

The family connection, along with the direct support the Congress party has been receiving from individuals associated with Open Society Foundation does pose questions on the level of proximity shared between the Gandhi family and the billionaire with a penchant to destabilise elected governments and a 'God' complex.

His recent statement targeting PM Modi and calling for a "democratic revival" is indicative of the plans he may be fostering as India becomes more sure of itself on a global stage.

Individuals such as Soros, whose entire fortune is founded upon capitalising on the misfortunes of others and acquiring power that transcends democratic means, certainly view a well-operating democracy as a potential threat. Such supranational powers must be thwarted by all means.