The white T-shirt has been a constant with India’s leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha for the 11,500-plus kilometres that Rahul Gandhi has travelled since the Bharat Jodo Yatra three years ago to the ongoing Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar.
On Wednesday, the leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, the RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, sported a red tee alongside Rahul in his trademark white one as the duo rode in bikes and jeeps accompanied by Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin and the Congress MP from Wayanad Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Muzaffarpur to Sitamarhi.
PTI picture.
Thirteen years ago, Stephanie Cutter, an American political consultant who had served as Barack Obama’s deputy campaign manager during his re-election campaign, had suggested Rahul projected himself as a polarising figure.
It seems that Rahul, who has in the past hesitated on some decisions, waited 10 long years to accept Cutter’s advice and work on it.
There is no dress code for Indian politicians. Cutting across party lines, many past leaders wore the same dress in public life, depending on the region, like the Congress and communist leaders of yore in Bengal.
During India’s freedom movement, Mahatma Gandhi switched from the suits that he wore in South Africa to the traditional Gujarati attire before finally switching to the khadi dhoti and shawl. His protégé, India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru made famous the Jawahar coat, which India’s current prime minister has Modi-fied as his own since he stormed to power 11 years ago.
Rahul’s uncle the late Sanjay Gandhi had brought the Kolhapuri chappal into fashion, while his father, the late Rajiv Gandhi, popularised wearing sports shoes with the white kurta-pyjama. In his trips abroad as PM, Rajiv was also seen in the bandhgala.
In his early days in politics, technocrat-turned neta Arvind Kejriwal had become synonymous with the muffler.
Except for the famous surname, the dynast tag and the moniker Pappu, there was little else that seemed to be synonymous with Rahul.
In January 2023, while passing through Madhya Pradesh, three girls shivering in the bitter cold came to meet Rahul. He later told reporters he decided to stick with the T-shirt after meeting them.
“I made a decision that till the time I do not shiver, I will only wear a T-shirt. I want to give a message to those three girls that if you are feeling cold, then Rahul Gandhi will also feel cold,” he had told reporters.
Post the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the “reluctant politician” Rahul has managed to create his brand of politics around social justice, constitutional democracy, equality, inclusivity – irrespective of electoral consequences.
As Cutter had observed 13 years ago, Rahul Gandhi is truly a polarising figure in Indian politics today. There are those who believe a Pappu is always a Pappu. There are others who believe in Rahul, the “principled politician”. And then, of course, there are the fence-sitters, including those among his allies, whose faith wavers depending on the electoral trends.
In the T-shirt – from Burberry, but that is an aside – Rahul has picked up an attire which gained currency as “bachelor undershirts” over a hundred years ago in New York, and was worn by sailors and soldiers to Hollywood stars like Marlon Brando and James Dean, before the shirt came to be loved universally.
It is believed that F Scott Fitzgerald first called it a T-shirt in his book This Side of Paradise. It made sense; the shape of the shirt looked like a T. The name caught on.
T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a crew neck, which lacks a collar.
Rahul wears tees with a collar.
Like everything that Rahul does, he faced opposition on the T-shirt too, from within the Congress and outside.
PTI picture.
He did attend the first day of the Lok Sabha session after the 2024 polls as the new leader of Opposition in the lower House in the traditional kurta-pyjama but soon switched to his favourite tee.
Congress leaders, too, were unhappy with his choice. Some, like the veteran Jairam Ramesh, openly suggested he do a re-think, others expressed their thoughts in hushed tones. The main argument was that the T-shirt, white or in any other colour, did not go with the “garima” (prestige) of the House. A thought shared by some of his allies as well as the BJP.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, too, had indirectly referred to the Leader of Opposition’s choice of dress on March 27 this year during the Budget session. The Speaker was also critical of his cupping his sister and first-time MP Priyanka’s face on the floor of the House.
The change in Rahul’s style was also noticed by Smriti Irani, who had defeated him from his home turf, Amethi, in 2019.
“When he [Rahul] talks about caste, when he wears a white T-shirt in Parliament, he’s aware of what kind of message it sends to the youth,” Smriti Irani commented during a podcast last year in August, months after losing to Gandhi family loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma.
“We shouldn’t be mistaken about his actions – whether they seem good, bad or immature – they represent a different style of politics,” she had said.
For now Rahul is desperate to leave his signature in Indian politics. The Narendra Modi government’s announcement of a caste census and the volte face on the Goods and Service Tax indicate the signature has arrived and is likely to stay. Like the all-weather T-shirt.