As the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi's statements in the United States sparked a political storm, one of his interactions with a student has lightened up the social media space, evoking multiple reactions from netizens.
During an event in Virginia's Herndon, the Congress MP was posed with a question on the 'INDI Alliance' and also the vision of the diverse political grouping, given that its only focus was the removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rahul was quick to correct the student, saying that it was INDIA and not INDI.
"INDI is BJP's framing," Rahul told the student.
However, the unyielding student was quick to question what A stands for, to which the Congress leader remained 'clueless' for a while and then answered Alliance.
The student further asked whether it wouldn't make it redundant to call it the INDIA alliance. This elicited peals of laughter from the audience while Rahul clarified on common grounds within the INDIA bloc.
A couple of BJP spokespersons shared the video clip of Rahul's interaction and mocked him over the Congress party's fallacies and quipped on how it was getting 'exposed' on foreign soil.
Many netizens also poked fun at Rahul's 'oops moment' at the US event.
An X user said, "If anybody asks, why RaGa is called Pappu, the latest proof is this. He has been fairly consistent with his absurd thoughts."
"Look how uneasy both of them got. The question came out of the syllabus," another netizen quipped.
During the interaction, the student had asked Rahul, "You lead the INDI alliance, often seen as an alternative to BJP. During the 2024 elections, you failed to reach a seat-sharing deal with alliance partner TMC while on the other hand, you have a Hindutva-based party like Shiv Sena. If you get a chance to run the government, how will you run the government with a divided coalition, which is keen only on the removal of the Prime Minister?"
Notably, the INDIA bloc stands for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance and was formed by Congress and other Opposition parties to take on the BJP in the 2024 polls.
(With inputs from IANS)
