Rahul Gandhi On 'Break' As India Mourns Manmohan Singh: A Look At All His 'Ill-Timed' Foreign Trips

Last Updated:December 30, 2024, 19:49 IST

For the BJP, it has been easy to carve out an image of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as a “non-serious neta”, who prefers to holiday

This is not the first time, however, that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has raised eyebrows with his oddly-timed foreign trips. (Image: PTI/File)

But, this did not last long. His latest break has once again raised questions over his ability to be a committed neta. And the comparison to the prime minister is inevitable.

Everyone is entitled to a holiday, even Rahul Gandhi. But, the timing of these breaks is what is questioned the most when he does take them.

The latest being another foreign trip while the country and the Congress are mourning the death of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. And, this in the face of the fact that the Grand Old Party is making a massive hue and cry over his memorial and last rites.

This is not the first time, however, that Gandhi has raised eyebrows with his oddly-timed foreign trips.

In 2019, which was an eventful year, he was missing in action during the anti-CAA protests. When elections were held in Maharashtra and Haryana that year, he was mostly away with Priyanka Gandhi filling in. Or even during the winter session, when the farm laws were being discussed.

But, the break that raised the most eyebrows, was when he disappeared for about 15 days when the Congress lost the election in 2014. Later, it was learnt that he was on a vipassana trip to Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. The party said he had gone to work out a strategy, but nothing changed after that.

When the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019, was being discussed in Parliament, and the Congress opposed it saying taking it away will be a security threat, the Union home minister said Gandhi had gone abroad 247 times between 2014 and 2019; and that, too, without informing anyone as he was under the special protection group (SPG) and had not taken it along.

The BJP said even when he went on official overseas trips for seminars, he would stay back a couple of days and these were an excuse for a holiday. Like this time, when he went to the United States – his first trip as Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha – he stayed back and only few in the party knew about it.

Not just this, many questions are raised about his planned tours as well. For example, him attending a wedding on the last day of the winter session when the Congress was protesting over the Ambedkar issue.

For the BJP, it has been easy to carve out an image of Gandhi as a “non-serious neta" who prefers to holiday. The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ sought to change this, and it did for a while when he was seen as a politician who travelled across the country on foot without a break.

But, this did not last long. His latest break has once again raised questions over his ability to be a committed neta. And the comparison to the prime minister is inevitable.

News politics Rahul Gandhi On 'Break' As India Mourns Manmohan Singh: A Look At All His 'Ill-Timed' Foreign Trips