Rahul Gandhi to address Cambridge University on ‘Learning to Listen in the 21st Century’

The 52-year-old Congress leader last addressed the University of Cambridge at an event at Corpus Christi College entitled ‘India at 75’ last year

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi arrived in the UK on Tuesday to kick off his week-long tour with an address at the University of Cambridge and also hold discussions with Indian diaspora groups here.

The Opposition MP, who is a Visiting Fellow of the Cambridge Judge Business School (Cambridge JBS), will deliver a student-only lecture at the university on the subject of “Learning to Listen in the 21st Century’.

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The business school has also indicated Gandhi's plans to hold “closed-door sessions” on ‘Big Data and Democracy’ and ‘India-China relations’ with Professor Shruti Kapila, an Indian-origin Fellow, Tutor and Director of Studies at the university’s Corpus Christi College and Co-Director of the Global Humanities Initiative.

“Our @CambridgeMBA programme is pleased to welcome India’s leading Opposition leader and MP Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress,” Cambridge JBS tweeted on Tuesday.

“He will speak today as a visiting fellow of @CambridgeJBS on the topic of ‘Learning to Listen in the 21st Century’,” it said.

Earlier this month, the business school confirmed the upcoming visit on Twitter: “He will lecture on @CambridgeMBA and hold closed-door sessions on Big Data and Democracy and India-China relations, with @ShrutiKapila, supported by @BennettInst @CamGeopolitics @CamHistory.”

Gandhi replied to that tweet to say: “Looking forward to visiting my alma mater Cambridge University and delivering a lecture at @CambridgeJBS.

"Happy to engage with some of the brightest minds in various domains, including geopolitics, international relations, big data and democracy," he tweeted.

The 52-year-old Congress leader last addressed the University of Cambridge at an event at Corpus Christi College entitled ‘India at 75’ during a visit to the UK in May last year.

During his current UK tour, he is scheduled to interact with representatives of the Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) UK chapter and also address an “Indian Diaspora Conference” planned over the weekend here in London.

IOC UK said it is looking forward to welcoming the party leader and updating him on its activities, including a Bharat Jodo Yatra held in London last year in solidarity with the yatra led by Rahul Gandhi across India.

The yatra began on September 7, 2022, from Kanyakumari and traversed through 12 states, culminating in Jammu and Kashmir -- covering a distance of about 4,000 kms over the course of four-and-a-half-months.

Gandhi's visit to the UK comes days after the Congress' 85th plenary session in Raipur in Chhattisgarh, where the party brainstormed its strategy for the 2024 general elections and deliberated on several internal issues.