Rahul’s wink after the hug set Twitter on fire, with many comparing him to Priya Prakash Varrier who became an overnight star with her wink in the Malayalam film Oru Adaar Love.  

One tweet said:#NoConfidenceMotion
Who was better?
Like: Rahul Gandhi
RT: Priya Prakash Varrier

But Priya herself did not appear too impressed, giving Rahul’s wink a score of 5 out of 10, when asked by The Telegraph.

Mata Amritanandamayi, the spiritual leader revered by countless devotees and known for giving over a million hugs a year, is often referred to as “the hugging saint” in the West. Asked about the value of a hug, Brahmachari Biju Kumar of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math at Amritapuri in Kerala told The Telegraph on Friday: “It’s entirely up to the receiver and how his mind is conditioned. It all depends on what you bring with you. But a hug will help you get in touch with your inner self, which is the same as everyone in this universe. Religion is your outer self. You remove it all layer by layer and what is left is the inner self. A hug can transform a person who might be distraught or depressed.”

Munna Bhai aka Sanjay Dutt hugs his reel and real-life father Sunil Dutt in Munna Bhai MBBS. The movie gifted the phrase jadu ki jhappi, or the magical hug, to the popular lexicon. Rahul’s hug of Modi was described as one.

Dhritarashtra Alingan ‘Alingan’ means ‘hug’. After the Mahabharat war, blind King Dhritarashtra of Hastinapur asked to hug Bhim, secretly planning to crush him to death for killing all his sons. But Krishna sensed the danger and got 
Dhritarashtra to hug an iron statue of Bhim and crush it.His anger cooled, a repentant Dhritarashtra broke down. On being told what had really happened, he embraced Bhim lovingly.