Days before Diwali, the Hindu festival that celebrates the victory of light over darkness, a video dropped on Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s YouTube channel. In it, chairperson of All India Congress Committee’s media and publicity department Pawan Khera laid out for Gandhi how Madhabi Buch’s appointment as chairperson of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) benefited the Adani Group. It’s the second video in the ‘Syndicate’ series, the first of which included footage of Gandhi at a Ramlila performance, holding a bow and arrow, and taking aim at the effigy of Ravana. The videos leave no room for ambiguity regarding Gandhi being cast as the hero of this project. 

Within 18 hours, the video had garnered 108, 489 views on Gandhi’s channel. Social media handles like Inquilab India on Instagram started putting up posts with information from the video, which they credited to “Rahul Gandhi’s team”. The same video on the official YouTube channel of the Indian National Congress secured only 5,400 views. To quote what Khera himself had said in a previous video, “Unless Rahul Gandhi takes up an issue, the issue doesn’t click.” 

Khera’s statement acknowledges both Gandhi’s predominance within the Congress party as well as the importance of his online following. Since the Bharat Jodo Yatra of 2022, Gandhi’s internet presence has become a force to reckon with, particularly on YouTube, the most used social media platform in India as of January this year. In addition to YouTube, Gandhi is active on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and has his own channel on Telegram. His video content is well shot, makes the most of its good-looking protagonist, and is professionally edited to feel like short films. Yet they’re also careful to retain a certain intimacy and not become too slick in their production. The camera gives the impression of being Gandhi’s confidante and the on-screen action rarely seems rehearsed or obviously performative.  

In his videos, Gandhi cooks, invites farm labourers to his home, wades through paddy fields with farmers, shares childhood memories, all the while listening to the people around him. Every video gives him an opportunity to critique the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Tell me what I can do for you,” Gandhi asks people, establishing himself as a politician who wants to make a tangible difference in the lives of those he meets. That refrain also raises the question of whether those in power are doing enough for the electorate they’re meant to serve.  

Modi vs Gandhi, the YouTube edition 

Gandhi’s personal team for YouTube is made up of around 10 people, a Mumbai-based communications and marketing firm named Teen Bandar, and others who brainstorm content and strategy. The content shared on platforms like Instagram is usually created out of the videos uploaded on his YouTube channel. “The quantity is one area where we have to work more,” said a Congress leader requesting anonymity. Gandhi’s enthusiasm for social media used to be limited, but he seems to be enjoying the process more these days. “He regularly checks views and is more involved after initial hesitancy,” said the leader quoted above.