Macho vs Metrosexual

Can the Congress-led INDIA alliance redefine political masculinity to counter 'Brand Modi'? Will this image engineering ultimately work in favour of the Opposition?

- Rakhi Bose

"WHEN did you learn to cook, when you were young?" asks Rahul Gandhi.

"Yes, I was young. In 6th or 7th standard," former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav replies. "I had gone to Patna where my brothers were working and I used to cook for them."

This brief exchange of culinary queries on August 4 this year between Gandhi, a political scion and one of the most controversial politicians of his era, Yadav, appeared an unusual one as both opposition politicians, prime movers of the INDIA alliance, lounged on patio furniture, waiting for the meaty contents of a thick aluminium pot to sizzle just right.

Gandhi and Yadav seemed deeply engrossed in their 'Chat over Champaran Mutton' at Yadav's daughter Misa Bharti's Delhi home, a departure from the popular 'Chai pe Charcha' discussions before the 2014 elections.

The choice of Champaran mutton may seem a far cry from the exotic foxtail millet leaf crisp chaat, jackfruit galette and glazed forest mushrooms served at the fall veg' dinner for world leaders at the recently concluded G-20 event in New Delhi.

But Champaran mutton seems to be a deliberate choice opted by the opposition politicians, given the temperament of vegetarianism the ruling party has been fostering with abandon.

Could it be that the slow-cooked rustic lamb delicacy, associated with the Champaran region of Bihar, was an attempt by Gandhi and Yadav to invoke not just the spirit of liberalism, but also regionalism while cleverly forging a subliminal Gandhian connect? Mahatma Gandhi started his first Satyagraha movement in 1917 from Champaran against tyrannical British rule. Is Champaran mutton now being pitched as a symbol of secularism, of inclusion, both key planks of the INDIA alliance?