Rahul Gandhi’s mention in Obama’s book leaves Twitter divided

HalfMoon · Nov 13, 2020

Rahul Gandhi’s mention in Obama’s book leaves Twitter divided
Sruthi VibhavariUpdated: 13th November 2020 6:31 pm IST

Indian Twitter is all stirred up after the reports emerged of an assessment of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Barack Obama’s new book. In his book A Promised Land, the former United State’s President has described Gandhi as someone who lacks aptitude and passion to master the subject.

Gandhi had a “nervous, unformed quality”, Obama said, adding that the Gandhi scion “lacked aptitude”.
Rahul Gandhi is no stranger to Internet trolling. However, the online bashing increased multifold on Friday when the excerpt of Obama’s memoir surfaced. While the Bharatiya Janata Party-affiliated IT cell left no stone unturned to use the comment on Gandhi into memes, pro-Congress users tried to look at the positive side of it.
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‘Barack Obama certified Pappu’
A user said that Obama had indirectly called Gandhi a ‘pappu’.

this is what Obama has reportedly written about Rahul Gandhi in his new book.

Is this the right time for all the RaGa fans in India to throw out that "HOPE" photo frame, delete all their posts celebrating Biden's victory, and cry in a corner? pic.twitter.com/N3CGN3yZS2
— An Open Letter (@AnOpenLetter001) November 13, 2020

Obama indirectly calling Rahul Gandhi as pappu#माफ़ी_माँग_ओबामा #ArundhatiRoy pic.twitter.com/xP7cHdPl4u
— Krishna (@Krishna41411481) November 13, 2020

We Indians have only right to call Rahul Gandhi as Pappu , anyone else will not be tolerated !! #माफ़ी_माँग_ओबामा #Pappu @INCIndia @RahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/Myi6pX3S3Q
— Suraj Singh (@surajdsingh2) November 13, 2020

So Rahul Gandhi is now a Barack Obama certified Pappu.

People of India were way ahead on this one.

2 minutes silence for Indian liberals who have written 1000+ articles on how he is "coming of age"
— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) November 13, 2020

#माफ़ी_माँग_ओबामा

Aaj gye #Pappu ji ke supporters yeh trend leke!
Nobody gives a shit!!#barakobama is a member of BJP IT cell now!!???? @narendramodi is our Modi, the Pride of India

What Barak Obama said about #PMModi ❤ pic.twitter.com/v4BwGzwAZH
— Deepika981 (@Deepika9813) November 13, 2020

No mentions of Modi, another section of users write
While heavy trolling was taken up at the expense of Rahul Gandhi, some pointed out that Obama had not mentioned Modi—who is considered a ‘world-class leader’ by many.
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Prez. Barack Obama didn't even find the 'So called global leader' of worth mentioning in his book.

The fact that Mr. Barack Obama has mentioned a leader of opposition from India shows how promising Mr. Rahul Gandhi is.
— Anshuman Sail (@AnshumanSail) November 13, 2020

It seems in Obama's book Modi is a non-entity. Someone too small to even find a mention. Non existent. Nobody. The book however talks about many world leaders including Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. The company they keep .
— Sanjukta Basu (@sanjukta) November 12, 2020

OBAMA'S PERSONAL COMMENTS ON RAHUL, JUST NOT CALLED FOR. RAHUL GANDHI IS AT THE BOTTOM OF MY PREFERENCE LIST, BUT I STIL THINK THERE WAS NO NEED FOR OBAMA TO GO OUT OF THE WAY IN DEMEANING RAHUL. YOU LOST MY RESPECT MR OBAMA. VERY BAD. pic.twitter.com/x5cQtQyPsm
— NaamhaiBharat (@Naamhaibharat) November 13, 2020

Congress leader Tariq Anwar too came to rescue Rahul Gandhi, over Obama’s comment. “Obama and Rahul must have met briefly, probably 8-10 years back when he came to India as the US President. To assess someone in few meetings is tough,” he said.
“Rahul Gandhi’s personality has changed since then, he’s gained lot of experience,” he added.

Obama & Rahul Gandhi must've met briefly,probably 8-10 yrs back when he came here as US Pres. To assess someone in few meetings is tough. Rahul Gandhi's personality has changed since then, he's gained lot of experience: Tariq Anwar, Cong on Obama's remarks on Gandhi in his memoir pic.twitter.com/OOgbGfmb91
— ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2020

Gandhi’s mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi also appears to find a mention in the memoir. The NYT review said in the memoir “We are told of the handsomeness of men like Charlie Crist and Rahm Emanuel, but not the beauty of women, except for one or two instances, as in the case of Sonia Gandhi.”