Birthdays of politicians give birth to so many opportunities for so many budding leaders; and when the politician happens to be Rahul Gandhi, sycophancy reaches a feverish high.
Congress national vice-president Rahul Gandhi may be holidaying in Spain, but the local politicians in Chandigarh, and Haryana celebrated his 43rd birthday — to use the cliché — with pomp and show. They had their reasons. The celebrations, sans the ‘birthday boy’, provided them with a photo opportunity; a snap shot to be displayed for all times to come as a mark of loyalty to the Congress’ scion.
Moreover, in case the message reached the senior leadership, it would indeed help them to make a strong impression, that may eventually help them in their future political career. All the same, the Congress workers pooh-pooh the same. They maintained that celebrating birthdays is the part of party’s programme to keep in touch with the people. Actually, the birthday celebrations, they asserted, give them the opportunity to do some good for the needy.
While the Haryana Youth Congress celebrated Rahul’s birthday by indulging in social work and cleaning slums, the Chandigarh Youth Congress distributed bags and stationary among the destitute kids.
“We started the celebrations by cutting the cake with the needy kids, and then distributed bags, pens, pencils, and notebooks to around 100-125 of them,” Chandigarh Youth Congress vice-president Harmail Kesri told The Pioneer.
He maintained that the city unit of Youth Congress has been celebrating their ‘youth icon’ Rahul’s birthday since past four years. “We have been asked by the National Youth Congress to celebrate Rahul ji’s birthday by doing some social service. last year, we distributed fruits among leprosy-affected people, and this year we distributed study-material to the poor students,” added Kesri.
For him, the reason is to remain in contact with the people. “They get to know you, the national leaders, and would appreciate the good deeds you are doing every year. This is how the relation develops, and helps,” said Kesri.
This is not all! Haryana Youth Congress too cash in on the opportunity. “We have distributed sewing machines to women belonging to Scheduled Castes or Backward Classes in all 90 assembly constituencies so that they can earn their livelihood through self- employment,” said Haryana Youth Congress president Amit Sihag.
And why not these celebrations! Rahul Gandhi is a name that needs no introduction — thanks to the media hype, his family history, or his charisma. In fact, owing to his several visits to this part of the region, during and after Punjab assembly polls, has given him more importance. While Rahul loyalists are going ga ga on his birthday, the Twitteratis and Facebookeans are addressing the “promising Prime Minister” as ‘Pappu’ (dumb).
The response has been so immense that the word “Pappu” became the “top” trend of the day on micro-blogging site Twitter. While several people are wishing him a “happy birthday” by celebrating the day as “Pappu Diwas”, many are questioning his whereabouts amidst the devastation caused in north India, especially Uttarakhand.