Imagine spending two days watching the leaders of some of the world’s most consequential countries gather in New Delhi, discussing wars, trade, global governance, economic cooperation and the future of the Global South – and then emerging with one burning question:
Where was the chicken?
That, apparently, is the big takeaway from the BRICS Summit for Rahul Gandhi.
A day after the BRICS gala dinner served an entirely vegetarian menu, the Leader of the Opposition took to social media to remind the nation that 80 per cent of Bharatiya are non-vegetarian and that Bharatiya non-vegetarian food is delicious. He helpfully added his sister’s chole bhature to the culinary evidence.
Never mind that the menu included an elaborate spread of regional vegetarian dishes – khumb galouti, paneer lababdar, Himalayan morels, millet pulao, beetroot raita, jalebi and shahtoot phirni. Apparently, without a piece of mutton somewhere on the plate, India’s culinary diversity had gone missing.
From geopolitics to galouti
The irony is delicious – vegetarian, of course. The BRICS summit produced a 45-page New Delhi Declaration and discussions on trade, health, tourism, agriculture, sustainability and cooperation among an expanding grouping of major Global South economies. India also pushed initiatives such as a Seafarers’ Emergency Support Network.
But Rahul Gandhi appears to have discovered none of this. No tweet celebrating a diplomatic breakthrough. No comment on India bringing together leaders from countries with very different interests.
No appreciation of the difficult task of finding common ground amid geopolitical tensions. Just: where is my non-veg?
The janeu and the chicken
There is another little oddity here. Rahul Gandhi has publicly embraced his identity as a janeu-dhaari Hindu and spoken of his Brahmin and Hindu credentials.
So one wonders why this particular Sanatani Hindu Brahmin has suddenly appointed himself the global ambassador for mutton, chicken and fish.
The whole episode brought to mind a hilarious scene from the Telugu classic Aha Naa Pellanta, in which the miser played by Kota Srinivasa Rao sits down to eat plain rice while a chicken hangs tantalisingly from the ceiling above him.
As he stares at it, his imagination turns the humble rice into a feast of chicken biryani and chicken curry. One almost wonders whether Rahul, too, was staring at photographs of the BRICS dinner, imagining the chicken that wasn’t there.
Rahul’s khayali pulao
There is nothing wrong with eating non-vegetarian food. Millions of Indians do. And there is equally nothing wrong with serving vegetarian food at a particular diplomatic dinner.
Rahul should understand that vegetarian food is not a punishment handed down by the Ministry of External Affairs. Nor does vegetarian automatically mean tasteless, unnutritious or protein-starved.
Pulses, dairy, legumes, nuts, seeds and a variety of traditional Indian foods can provide plenty of nutrition. And, for those who prefer a lighter meal, a thoughtfully prepared vegetarian spread can be considerably easier on the stomach.
Even nature refuses to observe our political food wars. Several animals classified as carnivores consume vegetation when the opportunity arises.
Ask the people who actually ate it
Perhaps Rahul could try something refreshingly radical. Instead of telling us what the BRICS leaders should have eaten, ask them what they actually thought of the food they were served.
Did they enjoy the khumb galouti? Did they like the millet pulao? Did somebody ask for a second helping of the jalebi and fruit cream? We don’t know. Neither, apparently, does Rahul Gandhi. Because he wasn’t at the dinner.
So here is the spectacle: a major international summit is being discussed around the world, its leaders are negotiating matters of consequence, India is trying to strengthen its position within an increasingly important global grouping – and our LOO (Leader of the Opposition) is standing outside the banquet hall, inspecting the menu card. Perhaps that is the real diplomatic coup.
India hosted BRICS. Rahul hosted a food fight. And while the world was looking at the summit, he was looking for the soup – preferably non-veg.
