Texas, September 9, 2024 (Yes Punjab News)
In Texas, Congress leader Sam Pitroda whipped out his pistols in cowboy style and shot himself in the foot. “I must tell you, Rahul Gandhi is no Pappu,” stated Pitroda emphatically on Monday, with Rahul Gandhi on the dais. What was supposed to be a praise by Pitroda, the Chairperson of the Indian Overseas Congress, reminded people of the tag that not even the BJP now uses to refer to Rahul.
“Rahul Gandhi’s agenda is to address some of the larger issues, he has a vision contrary to what BJP promotes by spending crore and crore of rupees. I must tell you he is not ‘Pappu’, he is highly educated, he is a strategist with deep thinking on any subject,” said Pitroda in Texas.
That is why it came as a pleasant surprise when Sam Pitroda, a senior Congress leader, reminded people that Rahul Gandhi was once called “Pappu”.
It was the BJP that popularised “Pappu” for Rahul Gandhi to show him lacking in intelligence.
Rahul Gandhi walked and worked to shed that tag.
Political commentators have said in unison that Rahul shed that perception with the Bharat Jodo Yatra, when he walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, a distance of 4,000 km, to connect with people.
Rahul Gandhi then spearheaded the Congress’s 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign and led the narrative for the BJP to follow.
His khatakhat-khatakhat was the dominant sound of the 2024 general election. His argument that the BJP was seeking 400+ seats to change the Constitution and his message on wealth transfer reached the grassroots. BJP leaders were always left countering his claims.
With Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Singh, Rahul built the ‘UP ke Ladke’ image.
In a battle where perception is everything, the Congress almost doubled its 2019 tally to 99 in 2024, and successfully projected the BJP’s 240 seats as a loss.
In the role of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul has kept up his attacks on the government, even forcing a rare intervention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
With this image makeover, even the BJP has not referred to Rahul Gandhi as “Pappu” in the recent past.
When PM Modi attacked him, without naming him, he used the term “balak buddhi” (childlike intelligence).
That is what Union minister Kiren Rijiju too used to attack Rahul recently, not “Pappu”.
Reacting to the debate after Pitroda’s “Pappu” reminder, Rijiju said: “Mr Sam Pitroda is blaming BJP with no reasons. Congress leaders gave this title ‘Pappu’ to Rahul Gandhi ji. Please never-ever blame BJP for all his failures and his balk buddhi”.
