Khadi or comfort? Congress divided over youth leaders’ dress sense

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has switched to T-shirts and jeans. MP Shashi Tharoor often shines in a coloured robe. There are fewer leaders in Kerala, who wear 'khaddar (khadi) and white', especially among the youth. As Congress members are switching away from khadi, questions are being raised by the party, "do Congressmen think that it is a new generation style doing away with khaddar?"

Many young leaders in Kerala have changed their roles. MPs Hibi Eden and Shafi Parambil, MLAs Rahul Mamkootathil and Mathew Kuzhalnadan, and former MLAs V T Balram and K S Sabarinadhan are among them.

Seeing the youth leaders switching to striped, polka-dotted, and coloured shirts, T-shirts, and jeans, Ajay Tharayil, a member of the KPCC Political Affairs Committee, has raised this question in a Facebook post.

The Facebook post accused the youth Congress members of abandoning khaddar. He questioned whether the new generation of Congress leaders sees discarding khaddar as a fashion statement, moving away from what was once a political symbol of anti-capitalist resistance.

Indeed, Congress leaders did not support this khaddar argument very much. "There is no way to give instructions on dress. In the past, khaddar was seen as a symbol. Some young people wear khaddar and some do not. I too wear all kinds of clothes," said Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan.

KPCC President Sunny Joseph responded that the youth can wear whatever they like. “Whatever the clothes, it is enough if the mind is good, right?” was the response of former MLA K S Sabarinadhan. “I don’t disagree with khaddar, wear whatever you are comfortable with” – V T Balram clarified his policy.

Ajay Tharayil later responded, saying that 95 per cent of Congress members wear khadi and that some who walk around without khadi say they are right and others are stupid, and that he could not bear it.