Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday tried the ancient martial art Kalari with students at Marian College, Idukki in Kerala.

He later interacted with students and spoke on films, politics, artificial intelligence and higher education.

Rahul performed Vandanam, the traditional salutation done before Kalari practice, where practitioners pay respect to the training arena, the guru and the deity.

Rahul Gandhi is trained in Aikido, where he earned a black belt after years of practice. He has also practiced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, incorporating sword fighting techniques. During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, he publicly demonstrated Jiu-Jitsu moves like rolls, base grounding, and non-violent redirection to Congress workers and students.

Kalaripayattu, often called Kalari, is among the oldest martial arts believed to have originated in Kerala. The practice combines physical conditioning, flexibility, weapon training and unarmed combat techniques.

Training moves through stages that include practice with wooden and metal weapons and y unarmed combat. The martial art is known for fluid movements, leaps and spins that sometimes resemble dance forms.

It was historically linked to warrior clans in Kerala, declined during British rule and later revived as a cultural practice.

During the interaction, a student asked the Congress leader about films being used as propaganda. Referring to Kerala Story-2 Goes Beyond, he said it was “good news” that the film was not drawing viewers.

“While the good news is that ‘Kerala Story’ seems to be empty, and no one is watching it,” the Congress MP said, adding that many people in the country still understand Kerala’s traditions and culture.

He said movies, television and media have increasingly been “weaponised”. According to him, such platforms are often used “to vilify people” and create divisions in society.

Rahul also spoke about conflicts in West Asia and their wider implications.

“On the surface, it looks like a war between America, Israel, and Iran,” he said, adding that the conflict is linked to larger geopolitical competition involving the United States, China and Russia.

He warned that India could face economic pressure because of its reliance on energy supplies from the Middle East.

Fuel prices could rise and economic growth could slow if the conflict escalates, he said, adding that India must be careful in its policy decisions during what he described as a “violent and dangerous time”.

Speaking about technology, the Congress leader said India was behind the United States and China in the race for artificial intelligence. “Actually India is not successful at AI,” he said, calling the US and China main players in the field.

He argued that control over data would determine future power in AI and claimed that recent agreements with the United States could affect India’s ability to build its systems.

The Rae Bareilly MP also said AI could disrupt jobs in India’s services and software sectors. Rahul also raised concerns about what he called ideological influence in universities. “Our higher education system is under an ideological attack,” he said.

He claimed that many vice-chancellors were being appointed because of their ideological alignment with the RSS and said the education system should not be shaped by any single ideological view.