Rahul Gandhi Saying 'No Direction, No Vision' in Video Criticising BJP is Now an Internet Meme

Ever since losing the battle of Indian general election to BJP, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has made a handful of appearances online-- through interviews and well, memes.

The coronavirus pandemic, however, saw the resurrection of the Congressman back to the limelight. Gandhi has, over the course of few months, interacted with industrialist Rajiv Bajaj, economist Raghuram Rajan, and Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee to discuss the impact of lockdown on Indians -- the videos of which were aired on the Congress party's social media platforms.

On Friday, the official Twitter account of Congress released another video of Gandhi. Only this time, he is seen alone, speaking to the camera and touching upon the pressing topics concerning the nation.

In what was a scathing attack to the government in power, the Congress leader minced no words and spoke about China's intrusion in the country's territory, India's weakening economic growth, and its dwindling relationship with close neighbours such as Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka. In a subsequent tweet, Congress's Twitter handle compared the pre-Modi era to an era which it termed "How PM Modi Weakened India". "India's relationship with its neighbours, its partnership with foreign powers & its booming economy kept it protected from encroachers, however, this was before PM Modi & the BJP came to power," Congress tweeted.

Gandhi's video was shared widely across by his fellow Congress members on social media including MP Shashi Tharoor who wrote, "The start of what promises to be a stimulating & instructive series. "Jan Ki Baat"!"

But as his video went viral on Twitter, a section of netizens latched onto a bit from his clip and turned into a meme instantly. "Worst economic growth in 50 years with no end in sight & unemployment is highest in 40-50 years. Our strengths have suddenly become our weaknesses," he said. The translated excerpt of this in Hindi read: "Na spasht disha hai, na drishtikon (Neither there is a sense of direction, nor vision)." The memers on Twitter though did have a vision and they imagined Gandhi's words in different scenarios.

Previously, Gandhi indulged in a dialogue with industrialist Rajiv Bajaj on the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis.

During the interview, Bajaj said that the Indian government had imposed a 'Draconian' lockdown to curb coronavirus but that it was "porous" and ended up damaging the economy. According to Bajaj, the coronavirus lockdown had flattened the wrong curve, that is GDP, and hadn't really been successful in containing the virus.