Experts claim Rahul Gandhi's 'pappufication' may be over, says beard symbolises image makeover

By Team Newsable | First Published Jan 31, 2023, 6:30 PM IST

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, said to be the driving force behind the yatra along with senior leader Digvijaya Singh, has repeatedly said the BJP's bid to distort Gandhi's image stands demolished with the yatra.

Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi has gone from being the barely stubbled, dimpled politician with neat hair to the man with unkempt locks and an overgrown salt-pepper beard, the image makeover drawing comparisons with Saddam Hussein, Karl Marx and even Forrest Gump.

And that one question - did Rahul Gandhi also outgrow his 'Pappu' image during the Bharat Jodo Yatra? The Iraqi dictator, the German philosopher and father of communism or the wide-eyed protagonist of the eponymous film 'Forrest Gump', who the Congress leader actually resembles after the end of the 145-day, 4,000 km yatra is open to debate.

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A day after the Kanyakumari to Kashmir campaign ended here on Monday, several experts agreed his "coming-of-age" look reflects the larger image transformation he has undergone in terms of people's perception.

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Speaking to a news agency, Prahlad Kakkar, advertising industry veteran said,"The beard has given him a certain degree of seriousness. He has arrived as a man, he is no longer Indira Gandhi's grandson, Rajiv Gandhi's son. He is now Rahul Gandhi, the man. That is a very critical change in how people perceive him today."

The man dismissed by many as 'Pappu' - the moniker imposed by his opponents to reflect their view of him as a non-serious, political lightweight - may have actually outgrown his image as a reluctant, part-time politician and evolved to one who is mature and taken seriously.

Many may argue with the stereotypes of both images he had - the pre-yatra image and the one he acquired as the march progressed -- but that is the thing with images. They tend to stick irrespective of whether they represent reality or not.

Rohit Ohri, CEO of media firm FCB Group India, said the Bharat Jodo Yatra was Gandhi's big "makeover act" and his scruffy beard a symbol of this makeover.

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"As a symbol it stands for... the new wisdom of age, the hard labour of the prince, the nation-before-self belief and the tough never-say-die spirit," Ohri told the news agency.

The political watchers said that Gandhi showed stamina and resilience through the Kanyakumari to Kashmir cross-country campaign, walking about 20-25 km each day, also lent itself to the end of the 'pappufication'.

"People did not think Rahul Gandhi had the stamina and bandwidth to see the yatra through. So, because he has had it easy, he has inherited it and not earned it, this Bharat Jodo Yatra was very important for his image makeover as finally he had to earn his stripes," Kakkar said.

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Addressing a press conference in Jammu, Rahul Gandhi had said thousands of crores of rupees have been pumped in by the BJP and the RSS systematically to distort his image but the truth always comes out.

The real Rahul Gandhi has emerged from the yatra, not a new one, Ramesh often insists when asked about the image makeover. Whether Rahul Gandhi's image makeover can be sustained after the yatra would depend on his perseverance and politics. For the moment, however, it does seem that the days of his 'pappufication' by the BJP are behind him.

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