New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) First came the quip about never being seen in the same room as Batman. On Monday, came the masks — worn by youngsters jostling to catch Rahul Gandhi’s attention during the INDIA bloc’s protest march in central Delhi.
One mask made its way to the Congress leader inside the bus he was travelling in and he held it aloft to loud cheers from the crowd. Later, Gandhi got Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to put it on inside the bus.
Several youngsters joined the procession wearing Batman masks and costumes, apparently taking their cue from a social media post by Gandhi featuring the superhero.
The opposition leaders had left the Constitution Club in five buses at 2:15 pm, with Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) workers and activists of Left organisations marching alongside on foot.
The procession reached Indira Chowk at the Barakhamba Road-Connaught Place junction around 4 pm. Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora stepped out of the bus and began walking towards the Supreme Court.
Along Barakhamba Road, which houses several private firms in highrises, office-goers stepped out to photograph and film the gathering.
At the Mandi House roundabout, protesters spray-painted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on the road. Several lawyers were also part of the march.
Amid the slogans and crowds, youngsters sporting Batman masks sought Gandhi’s attention, bringing an online exchange from August into the street mobilisation.
During an “Ask Me Anything” session on Instagram, part of his outreach to students and Gen Z, Gandhi was asked whether he was Batman.
“Let’s just say that no one has ever seen me and Batman in the same room together,” the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha had replied.
The exchange was followed later that month by posters describing Gandhi as “The Real Life Batman” near the Congress’s Indira Bhawan headquarters and elsewhere in central Delhi.
Put up by Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress chief Akshay Lakra, the posters featured pictures of Gandhi and the caped crusader, alongside the captions “The Silent Guardian” and “A Watchful Protector”. PTI SBR ASK RC
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