Explainer: Decoding Rahul Gandhi's 'simple' white T-shirt

Vibha Sharma

Chandigarh, June 20

For those wondering why Rahul Gandhi always sports a white T-shirt, the answer was provided by the Congress leader himself on his birthday. “I am often asked by I wear a ‘white T-shirt’—this T-shirt symbolises transparency, solidity and simplicity for me,” he said.

The fact is, every politician has his or her individual style statement like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his famous ‘half-sleeve shirt’.

So far as Rahul is concerned the white T-shirt became synonymous with him since his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ days in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

He has spoken about his white T-shirt earlier, but why he chose to reiterate his preference amid the snowballing NEET controversy, the answer appears to be in three words—‘pardarshita’ or transparency, ‘dridta’ or determination and ‘saralta’ or simplicity, he underlined.

“Where and how useful are these values in your life? Use #WhiteTshirtArmy and tell me in a video. And, I will gift you a white T-shirt,” he said, a statement seen as targeting the youth.

The NEET controversy has snowballed into a political war between the ruling BJP and the Opposition with the Congress slamming the Narendra Modi government over the row that has prompted students to take to the streets after the National Test Agency cancelled the UGC-NET. 

For political observers, the white T-shirt “campaign” coincides with student organisations and affected students protesting over alleged ‘paper leaks’ and ‘irregularities’ that led to the cancellation of UGC-NET exam, demanding similar action on NEET. 

While the ruling BJP is accusing opposition Congress of politicising the issue, detractors point that it affects lives of lakh of students and families and the Congress was “well within its rights to stand with them. If BJP can do politics over ‘mangalsutra’, NEET is a legitimate issue.”

The fact is over the years the Congress has lost sizable grassroot supporters and the simple white T-shirt may be a way to gather unhappy youngsters agitated over issues like paper leaks and unemployment.

Earlier this year, Rahul had answered several light-hearted questions in a video, including the white T-shirt seen as his ‘trademark’ since his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

On why he always wears it, the Congress leader said “transparency and simplicity and I just don’t care much about clothes. I prefer it (to be) simple”.