Khanna/Ludhiana: He’s 5’ 6, truthful with gentle brown hair and a beard with flecks of gray. Usually mobbed by individuals both straining to click on selfies or inform him about their issues, he created fairly a stir as he walked among the many rank and file of the Congress in the course of the Ludhiana leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra this week.
No, he’s not Rahul Gandhi. Although at first look you may simply mistake him for the Congress chief. He even dressed the identical means — white half-sleeved T-shirt and beige trousers with no sweater, although it was a cold 10–13°C.
Meet 23-year-old Mohammad Faisal Choudhary, a Congress employee fondly generally known as ‘Chhota Rahul’ in his hometown Meerut.
Born right into a farming household, Choudhary is a part of the celebration unit in Meerut. Having joined the yatra in Delhi, he intends to remain on till its fruits at Srinagar later this month.
“My father and grandfather believed in Congress’s ideology. So I additionally joined the celebration three years in the past. It’s god’s reward that I’ve been blessed with such seems that individuals mistake me for Rahul Gandhi,” he instructed ThePrint as he walked behind the media van on the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
For Choudhary, all the eye has now develop into commonplace, as has the nice and cozy welcome he receives wherever he goes.
“Generally individuals really assume I’m him, and so they hug me, or garland me. Rahul ji walks with tight safety, so not everybody can meet him, however I don’t have any safety so that they click on pictures with me as an alternative,” he mentioned.
His resemblance to Rahul is so placing that his fellow yatris recounted an incident when the yatra was crossing Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat, the place a girl, mistaking him for the Congress scion, started to recount her issues to him.
“She saved saying issues as we watched quietly. It instantly hit her that she wasn’t talking to the true Rahul Gandhi and he or she slapped her brow in dismay,” the yatri, who didn’t wish to be recognized, instructed ThePrint.
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Jab they met
On Friday morning, Choudhary, who mentioned he’s impressed by Gandhi’s “simplicity and health”, met his idol for the primary time and posted a photograph of the encounter on Instagram.
So what did they speak about? “He requested me about my household, about what I used to be doing, and why I used to be strolling within the yatra,” he instructed ThePrint. “I instructed him I consider him as my idol.”
The oldest of 4 siblings, Choudhary is a farmer too — his father died six years in the past, forcing him to desert his BA diploma halfway to take over the farm.
Regardless of his placing resemblance to Rahul Gandhi, elections are usually not on the playing cards but, though he want to contest polls sometime. And though he doesn’t have an official put up within the Meerut Congress, he does what he can to contribute, he mentioned, including that extra and other people ought to be part of the yatra: “Even for those who can stroll a couple of miles, try this and be part of the march. Stroll with Rahul Gandhi and help him in his efforts to unite the nation.”
Regardless of the bitter chilly, he insists on carrying no sweater.
“Thand thoughts se lagti hai (chilly is within the thoughts). I’ve determined that I’ll stroll like Rahul ji, so I don’t really feel chilly,” he mentioned, including he’ll solely put on one when Gandhi does.
Though Choudhary’s made to really feel welcome the place he goes, some well-wishers from again residence have warned him towards talking freely about politics.
“They are saying I shouldn’t aspire to purpose larger or stand up shortly, however these are just some individuals. A majority has proven me help for strolling within the yatra,” he mentioned.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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