A city in Haryana's National Capital Region is being imagined as India's answer to the Swiss Alps summit that sets the global economic agenda — and Congress MP Dr. Shashi Tharoor thinks the man behind it might just make it happen. On Sunday, 1 November 2026, Tharoor publicly backed his friend, Prof. C. Raj Kumar, Founder and Vice-Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU), describing the ambition to transform Sonipat into 'India's Davos' as a 'typically bold vision.'

The man who built a world-class university in a Haryana field

Prof. C. Raj Kumar founded O.P. Jindal Global University in Sonipat in 2009, with a stated mission to build an institution matching international standards in research, faculty, and academic partnerships. What began as a private university on the outskirts of Delhi has grown into one of India's most internationally connected campuses, drawing faculty and collaborations from across the globe. Tharoor's note — 'his track record suggests he might actually pull it off' — is a pointed endorsement, leaning on that 17-year institutional build as evidence of execution, not just aspiration.

Why 'India's Davos' — and why Sonipat?

Davos, the small Swiss town that hosts the annual World Economic Forum, has become shorthand for a particular kind of convening power: heads of state, CEOs, central bankers, and intellectuals in one room, shaping the global agenda for the year ahead. The phrase 'India's Davos' signals a bid not merely for a conference venue, but for that calibre of convening authority — a place where consequential conversations happen and decisions ripple outward. Sonipat, located within the National Capital Region, has geography working in its favour: proximity to Delhi's diplomatic and political infrastructure without being swallowed by it.

NCR's quiet ambition to host the next big idea

Indian states have periodically floated secondary cities near Delhi as emerging hubs for education, investment, and high-profile events. Private universities have been among the most visible catalysts in that push, often outpacing public infrastructure timelines. JGU's presence has already repositioned Sonipat in academic circles; the 'India's Davos' framing suggests an attempt to extend that repositioning into the economic and policy-dialogue space. Whether the vision materialises will depend on follow-through — partnerships, infrastructure upgrades, and the sustained political will of Haryana's government.

A politician-diplomat with Tharoor's global resume does not throw around the Davos comparison lightly. Watch this space.