Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi escalated his attack on the central government’s E20 fuel policy on Friday, posting a 53-second video on social media platform X. Announcing a massive movement against the rollout of 20% ethanol-blended petrol, Gandhi accused the policy of being a vehicle for corruption and a direct attack on consumers. However, the dramatic video featured an ironic twist that quickly caught the internet’s attention.
E20 – दाल में काला नहीं, पूरी दाल ही काली है। pic.twitter.com/Unw7UfNt9k
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 7, 2026
“Puri Daal Hi Kaali Hai”
In the video, Gandhi is seen standing next to a modern SUV. To emphasise his point, he dramatically opens the vehicle’s fuel tank lid, looks inside, and turns to the camera, twisting a popular Hindi idiom to assert his claims.
“The E20 issue is a very big issue,” Gandhi said. “Normally we say daal mein kuch kaala hai (there is something fishy), but here puri daal hi kaali hai (the whole thing is fishy)”. He went on to state that the widespread rollout of E20 fuel is actively harming citizens’ property.
“This is destroying people’s cars, destroying people’s scooters, destroying people’s lives, and literally, is stealing directly from them,” Gandhi asserted, promising that the Congress party would take the issue up in a “massive way”.
Addressing why the opposition hasn’t tackled this issue sooner, he cited the sheer volume of alleged government missteps. “This is a matter of sequencing,” he explained. “In any campaign, we have to decide the sequence of affairs. Our problem right now is that there is so much corruption that there is a huge list of issues that we have to sequence”.
The E20 compliant catch
Despite the fiery rhetoric against E20 fuel, there was a glaring contradiction in the video. When Gandhi opened the fuel lid to deliver his criticism, the fuel tank cap itself clearly indicated that the vehicle was, in fact, an ‘E20’ compliant car. This detail undercut the dramatic premise of the video, as Gandhi was using a vehicle specifically engineered to run on the 20% ethanol-blended fuel to demonstrate how the very same fuel is supposedly “destroying” cars.
The irony of ranting against E20 while relying on an E20-ready vehicle is yet another gaffe in the storied list of faux pas that has come to define Rahul Gandhi’s online persona.
The E20 context
The central government’s push for E20 fuel, petrol blended with 20% ethanol, is primarily aimed at reducing India’s heavy reliance on crude oil imports and cutting down on vehicular emissions. However, the accelerated rollout has faced pushback from various quarters.
Critics have raised concerns regarding lower mileage, the potential lack of compatibility with older vehicle engines, and the limited choices left for consumers at fuel pumps. Gandhi’s latest video aligns with recent opposition movements, including a protest march led by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal earlier this week on the same E20 issue. As the Congress prepares to elevate this to a “massive” campaign, it remains to be seen how they will address the ironic slip-up that accompanied their opening salvo.
