Macho vs Metrosexual

Listen to excerpts from Outlook's One Nation,One Election issue by Pragya Vats

Transcript

00:00 I'm Pragya and I bring to you excerpts from the latest issue of Outlook.

00:04 One nation, one election. One nation, many people.

00:08 The issue brings to you diverse debate and points of view on the idea of one nation and one election.

00:14 "Macho vs. Metro-sexual," writes Rakhi Bose from Outlook.

00:18 Can the Congress-led India alliance redefine political masculinity to counter Brand Modi?

00:24 Or will this image engineering ultimately work in the favor of the opposition?

00:29 Rakhi continues.

00:30 "When did you learn to cook? When you were young?" asks Rahul Gandhi.

00:34 "Yes, I was young, in 6th or 7th standard," former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav replies.

00:40 "I had gone to Patna where my brothers were working, and I used to cook for them."

00:44 The brief exchange of culinary queries on August 4th this year between Gandhi,

00:49 a political scion, and one of the most controversial politicians of his era,

00:53 Yadav, appeared an unusual one, as both opposition politicians,

00:58 prime movers of India alliance, lounged on patio furniture,

01:03 waiting for the meaty contents of the thick aluminum port to sizzle just right.

01:08 Gandhi and Yadav seem deeply engrossed in their chat over Champaran Mutton

01:13 at Yadav's daughter's Mirsa Bharti's Delhi home,

01:16 a departure from the popular chai-pe-char-char discussions before the 2014 elections.

01:22 The choice of Champaran Mutton may seem a far cry from the exotic,

01:26 foxtail, millet-leaf crisp chaat, jackfruit galette, and glazed forest mushrooms

01:32 served at the all-veg dinner for world leaders at the recently concluded G20 event in New Delhi.

01:39 But Champaran Mutton seems to be a deliberate choice opted by the opposition politicians

01:44 given the temperament of vegetarianism the ruling party has been fostering with abandon.

01:50 Could it be that slow-cooked, rustic lamb delicacy,

01:53 associated with Champaran region of Bihar, was an attempt by Gandhi and Yadav to invoke

01:59 not just the spirit of liberalism but also regionalism,

02:03 while cleverly forging a subliminal Gandhi connect?

02:06 Mahatma Gandhi started his first Satyagraha movement in 1917 from Champaran

02:12 against the tyrannical British rule.

02:14 Is Champaran Mutton now being pitched as a symbol of secularism?

02:19 Of inclusion, both key planks of India's alliance.

02:23 the world.

02:26 [BLANK_AUDIO]