When chhole bhature gave Congress a stomach ache: Twitter reactions
In India, politics is usually less food for thought and more just actual food. Some times it’s the ever-bubbling chai. On other occasions it’s the problematic beef. And sometimes it’s the good-for-business pakodas. Today, however, the limelight was stolen by one of north India’s most popular dishes: Chhole bhature!
While chhole bhature normally evokes yum memories of a gluttonous meal of unhealthy oily food, today it managed to slip a greasy self goal for the Congress. Members of the grand old party of India planned on going on a fast: the Gandhian form protest led by Rahul Gandhi at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial in Rajghat against rising Dalit atrocities. Of course, things did not manage to go as planned.
Around one in the afternoon, Delhi BJP leader Harish Khurana tweeted an image that proved to be somewhat embarrassing for Congress leaders including Ajay Maken, Haroun Yusuf and Arvinder Singh Lovely who could be seen gorging on plates of chhole bhature before their planned fast.
While the Congress leaders did their best to provide explanations — Ajay Maken said, “Aren’t we allowed to eat before 11am?"; Arvinder Lovely claimed that the photo was taken before 8am: "This is symbolic fast from 10.30am to 4.30pm. It is not an indefinite hunger strike. This is what is wrong with these [BJP] people, instead of properly running the country, they concentrate on what we eat” — the damage was, alas, already done.
Between digs at Congress leaders, there were also myriad jokes that did the rounds, and appreciation for Delhi's favourite dish too:
Of course, some managed to see past the incident and comment on what was really important: all that was being given less importance thanks to the Congress fiasco:
Mundane things like chhole bhature and chai will always make news. It is only up to everyone else to choose to (mind the pun) not consume it!