Rahul Gandhi, who had vowed to learn from AAP after the grand old party suffered defeat in 2013 Delhi assembly elections, seems to have perfected the art. The Congress Vice President beat Arvind Kejriwal of AAP in creating a TV drama when he decided to stand in a queue outside a bank today.
The party claimed that this step by Rahul Gandhi was to stand in solidarity with the common man who was facing inconvenience due to demonetization of old 500 and 100 rupee notes.
Earlier, there were media reports about long queues outside banks and ATMs and new currency notes not being available at some bank branches. NDTV, the TV news channel considered close to the Congress party, even asked people to send video clips that showcase the trouble people have been facing.
And it appears that Rahul Gandhi volunteered to make one such video clip.
In the afternoon today, Rahul Gandhi visited the Parliament Street branch of State Bank of India in Delhi to exchange 4000 rupees of old notes. If the aim was to witness how people were inconvenienced, Rahul Gandhi succeeded, for his presence made life tougher for people standing in the queue.
Rahul Gandhi’s visit was accompanied by security persons as well as media persons visiting the aforementioned bank. This caused even more inconvenience to people standing in the queue. There were reports that people were even not allowed to enter the bank after Rahul Gandhi went inside to exchange the money.
A senior correspondent with Hindustan Times shared a video clip where a man was complaining about inconvenience he faced due to Rahul Gandhi joining the queue:
https://twitter.com/sweta_goswami/status/797029454832750593
Among those inconvenienced by Rahul Gandhi’s photo-op were senior citizens who couldn’t endure the pain of standing too long in the queue as the proceedings got delayed with a VIP entering the bank.
https://twitter.com/sweta_goswami/status/797031801604608001
Finally, Rahul Gandhi blasted Narendra Modi for causing inconvenience to people.