New Delhi: After braving the Delhi winter in December in his trademark white t-shirt Bharat Jodo look, Congress leader and member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi finally had to give his t-shirt-only look a rest on the first day of the Yatra in Jammu Friday. In a video released on the leader’s YouTube channel, Gandhi appeared to be wearing what looked like a raincoat over his t-shirt, as he started the last leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra — scheduled to culminate in Srinagar later this month — from Hatli Morh in Kathua, Jammu.
The place recorded a temperature of 7-8 degrees Celcius, with a slight rainfall, around 8.30 am Friday, according to weather portals.
Later visuals released on the channel show him without the cover.
Gandhi’s t-shirts, worn without any visible warm clothing, have become one of the talking points of the Yatra, with many wondering and debating the reason why the Congress leader didn’t feel the need for a sweater or jacket even in winter.
Brajesh Pathak, a BJP minister in Uttar Pradesh, had even claimed that he had discussed with doctors and experts the reason why Gandhi didn’t feel cold. The leader’s refusal to wear something warm even during the Yatra’s Punjab and Himachal legs in winter, fanned something of a political debate.
While Gandhi has questioned the curiosity over his non-sweater look by initially claiming “I do not wear a sweater because I am not scared of winter,” in a press conference earlier this month, he said, “I started walking from Kerala. It was hot and humid. When we entered Madhya Pradesh, there was a slight chill. One day three poor girls in torn clothes came to me and wanted to get a picture clicked. When I hugged one of them, she was shivering. On that day, I decided that I will put on a sweater the day these children get one. Till time I do not shiver, I will only wear a T-shirt”.
On Friday, as Gandhi’s raincoat look again became a topic of conversation, with some wondering whether the Congress leader was finally wearing a jacket, Indian Youth Congress national president, Srinivas B.V., tweeted that there was a “difference between a raincoat and a jacket”.
भक्तों Raincoat और Jacket में अंतर होता है pic.twitter.com/E5eNRRwfVF
— Srinivas BV (@srinivasiyc) January 20, 2023
The Bharat Jodo Yatra started its last leg in Jammu & Kashmir Friday. On Thursday, the Yatra was welcomed by a huge crowd and former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah at the border of Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab.
“I was thinking that I am going back to my home. I am going on foot towards the land from where my family came from. When a person goes towards his roots, he learns a lot,” Gandhi said in Kathua Thursday. Gandhi’s grandfather, independent India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was a Kashmiri Pandit.
Gandhi was joined by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) party leader and member of Parliament, Sanjay Raut, on the Yatra Friday.
Also read: Bharat Jodo Yatra has transformed Rahul’s image. But no guarantee of electoral victory
T-shirt tale
Conversations around Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra look are not new. In the early days of the Yatra in September, the BJP had targeted the Congress leader for the alleged price of his t-shirt, claiming it to be worth Rs. 40,000.
Bharat, dekho! pic.twitter.com/UzBy6LL1pH
— BJP (@BJP4India) September 9, 2022
Congress members and supporters then hit back saying, “Did you get scared? Seeing the crowd gathered in Bharat Jodo Yatra.” And added: “If we want to discuss the rest of the clothes, then talk will go up to Modi ji’s suit worth 10 lakhs and spectacles worth 1.5 lakhs.”
Earlier this month, BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa called Gandhi’s t-shirt-only look a publicity gimmick. “The cat is out of the bag! The sleeveless thermal & buttoned-up T Shirt exposes the fake narrative of liar Rahul Gandhi. Feeling cold in winter is normal! It was nothing but an attention-seeking gimmick for fake publicity,” he wrote.
The cat is out of the bag! The sleeveless thermal & buttoned up T Shirt exposes the fake narrative of liar @RahulGandhi.
Feeling cold in winter is normal! It was nothing but an attention seeking gimmick for fake publicity. pic.twitter.com/jrJuiOWkNZ
— Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) January 7, 2023
On 26 December, BJP’s Amit Malviya took to Twitter tagging a news report and wrote, “Rahul Jha, a 32-year-old unemployed man working on his 9th startup idea, has decided to launch his 10th startup — a national political party — after he successfully walked for 3 kilometers in Delhi cold wearing just an underwear.”
Rahul Jha, a 32-year-old unemployed man working on his 9th startup idea, has decided to launch his 10th startup – a national political party – after he successfully walked for 3 kilometers in Delhi cold wearing just an underwear. https://t.co/HQpgZ1mbkG
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 26, 2022
Congress leader & former Union minister Salman Khurshid too fueled a controversy, when he said in December, “Rahul Gandhi is superhuman. While we are freezing in the cold and wearing jackets, he is going out in T-shirts. He is like a yogi doing his ‘tapasya’ with focus”.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: When Rahul Gandhi met his ‘match’ — meet UP’s Faisal Choudhary, who’s causing a stir at Bharat Jodo