This Article is From Apr 20, 2015

Did Rahul Gandhi Roar Or Meow? Twitter's Big War Today

Did Rahul Gandhi Roar Or Meow? Twitter's Big War Today

File photo of Rahul Gandhi speaking in Lok Sabha

Soon after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi spoke in the Lok Sabha today, the hashtag #RahulRoar began to trend.

In no time at all it had climbed all the way to the top, as people praised his speech. Detractors soon ensured that #PappuMeows trended too, soon second only to #RahulRoars as a hot debate began.

At the time of writing this, there are more than 5,600 tweets around #RahulRoars and 3,000 tweets around #PappuMeows.

Mr Gandhi, 44, was speaking in a debate on the agrarian crisis in the country and he accused the BJP government of "abandoning farmers."

His speech included many jibes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Yours is a government of big people, a suit-boot sarkar," Mr Gandhi said, pausing ever so slightly after the word "suit" to emphasise his reference to the expensive, name-striped suit the PM wore to much criticism during US president Barack Obama's visit to India in January.

The Congress leader alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to bring 'acche din' he had promised.

There were bouquets: And there were brickbats: And, some of them even started a new hashtag called #PappuMeows on Twitter: Last week, when the Congress vice-president returned home after a 57-day sabbatical abroad, #RahulReturns became the top trend on Twitter.

In his absence, beginning February 16, Twitterrati had a lot to say and speculate in 144 words. After the Congress explained that he was on a leave of absence to "introspect," #RahulOnLeave trended for three days as did #WhereIsRahul.
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