Rahul’s Puducherry show is a hit where he plays a fool, an ignoramus and even a tele-evangelist kind of person

Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday arrived in poll-bound Puducherry, amidst the Congress government in the state slipping short of the majority mark in a 30-member assembly. At least four MLAs have resigned in the past one week, and a cyclone-like crisis has hit Chief Minister V Narayanasamy’s government. One would have thought that a bulk of the Gandhi scion’s focus would be on resolving the political crisis in the state. However, the man-child rather took to turning his two-day visit into a cringe fest of unprecedented magnitude. From behaving like a television evangelist before who devotees go maniacal, to talking nonsense with the fishermen – Rahul Gandhi did it all.

Among Rahul Gandhi’s first stops in Puducherry was the Bharathidasan Government College for Women. At the college, the able leader was given a rousing welcome amid loud cheers by students, for reasons best known to them and inexplicable to us. Such was the informality of their discussion, that Rahul Gandhi asked that he not be addressed as ‘Sir’; rather, just as ‘Rahul’. Nevertheless, he was called ‘Rahul Anna’ by the students.

During his talk with students at the college, Rahul Gandhi was given a superstar-like treatment. However, in a video clip which has now gone viral, a student can be seen hysterically showing her excitement at being able to stand before Rahul Gandhi – a man who has achieved so much in life purely on the basis of merit. Such was the excitement, that the girl gesticulated violently and jumped when the Congress prince gave her an autograph. He then shook the girl’s hand. By now, the fangirl had lost all sense of time and place. Next, Rahul Gandhi took to hugging her, and she visibly broke into tears. The visuals bore an eerie similarity to the antics of evangelists who take to miracle-healing on stages, in front of massive crowds.

Acting like a healer was not all that Rahul Gandhi did during his first eventful day at Puducherry. During his interaction with members of the fishermen community, he profoundly asked the Modi government to set up a separate ministry for Fisheries. “The government passed 3 Bills against farmers, the backbone of a nation. You must be wondering why am I talking about farmers at meeting of fishermen. I consider you as farmers of sea. If farmers of land can have ministry in Delhi, why is that farmers of sea don’t have the same,” Rahul Gandhi said. Interestingly, the Fisheries Ministry was created by PM Modi on May 31, 2019 itself. That the Gandhi prince is not even aware of the existence of such a ministry is quite telling of how preoccupied the man’s mind is in deciding his next foreign destination for vacationing.

In a climatic end to his first day at Puducherry, Rahul Gandhi’s intimidatory presence made CM Narayanasamy lie through his teeth, during no less than translating the complaint of a fisherwoman. A fisherwoman from Solai Nagar complained to Rahul Gandhi that the Chief Minister did not even visit her family in the aftermath of a cyclone. “The Sea is like this only. Nobody gave as any support. Even him [CM Narayanasamy], did he visit us during cyclone aftermath?” she was heard saying.

The translator, who was no less than the Chief Minister himself, against who the fisherwoman was complaining, had the audacity of turning her complaint into a praise for himself. CM Narayanasamy told Rahul Gandhi that the woman said, “During Cyclone Nivar, I [Chief Minister] came and visited the area, I gave her relief. That is what she is telling.” Evidently, Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the poll-bound and crisis-struck state has been very eventful.