The hug launched many headlines. The jhappi from “Pappu” stunned the government and left the Prime Minister looking thunderstruck. When Congress president Rahul Gandhi flung his arms around a startled Narendra Modi in Parliament, he achieved the near impossible. He snatched the front-page photograph away from Modi and placed himself at the centre of an unfolding TV pageant. In 2016, during repeated adjournments, he had said that if the government lets him speak for 15 minutes, he would deliver a political earthquake. The quake came 18 months later in the form of a jhappi.
There was more to come. After the hug, cameras spotted Rahul winking, as if to say an impish “Howzat?” Jhappi plus wink overwhelmed TV channels. Anchors gushed Read More
