Sir — There was not even an iota of doubt that the no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi Government led by the Telugu Desam Party, and supported vociferously by the Congress and other opposition parties would fall flat. But the new dazed realisation was that India discovered that Congress president Rahul Gandhi also likes to hug much like Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a stunning act of real life Gandhigiri, that surely left the entire lok Sabha and a nationwide television audience dumbstruck, Rahul Gandhi after his blistering attack on Narendra Modi and his Government, walked across the aisle and hugged the Prime Minister probably to underline that he felt ‘not an iota of anger, not an iota of hatred’ towards his adversary and that the Congress stood for love and brotherhood.
Rahul Gandhi’s ‘jhappi’ had all the elements of surprise. It had stealth. It had precision. It had transparency too. Of course, it would be too much to expect the hug to turn around the Congress’ electoral fortunes, though. But years later from now, when the no-confidence motion against the NDA Government is all but forgotten, it is likely that videos of Rahul Gandhi hugging the Prime Minister would still be doing the rounds.