Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi broke the tension of a high-stakes parliamentary session on Friday with an unexpected flash of self-deprecating humour, drawing laughter from across party lines in the Lok Sabha.
Speaking during the debate on the Women’s Reservation and Delimitation Bills, Gandhi underscored the role women play in shaping men’s worldviews before steering the conversation into lighter territory with a candid reference to his and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shared bachelor status.
The moment was sparked by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju’s earlier remark about being “scolded” at home for failing to write a poem for his wife a task Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal had reportedly managed to pull off.
“All of us in this room have been influenced, taught, and have learnt a lot from women in our lives from mothers, sisters, and wives,” Gandhi said. He then added with a grin: “Of course, the Prime Minister and myself don’t have ‘the wife issue,’ so we don’t get that specific input, but we do have our mothers and sisters.”
The quip landed instantly. Laughter broke out across the House, with several members on the Treasury benches visibly smiling a rare sight during a session typically charged with political friction.
Gandhi kept the mood going. Turning to his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s speech from the previous day, he joked that she had pulled off something he hadn’t managed in two decades of political life. “Yesterday, I was watching my sister achieve in five minutes what I have not been able to do in 20 years make Amit Shah ji smile,” he said, drawing another round of laughter from the members.
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