Rahul, Priyanka’s snowball fight at Srinagar campsite warms hearts

Srinagar, Jan 30 (PTI) While politics, national security and talks around social harmony were in focus during the last leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi shared a fun-filled “beautiful” moment with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as they engaged in a snowball fight at a campsite here.

The Congress party shared videos and photographs of the siblings’ frolic snowball fight, and these went viral immediately.

As the snow fell steadily, carpeting much of the Valley in white, the former Congress president was seen in a video engaged in a playful snowball fight with his sister, and his close aide K C Venugopal.

“Sheen Mubarak! A beautiful last morning at the #BharatJodoYatra campsite, in Srinagar,” Gandhi tweeted with a video that captures the light moment — him sneaking towards his sister concealing two ice blocks behind, and managing to put them on her head.

The 36-second clip then shows Vadra chasing him and putting some ice on his head before they hug each other.

In another video, Gandhi is seen trying his snowfighting skills on Venugopal too.

Earlier, Gandhi hoisted the national flag at the campsite here.

Donning a white T-shirt and a sleeveless jacket, the former Congress chief hoisted the flag at the campsite in Panthachowk to the tunes of the national anthem played to mark the culmination of the yatra, amid a fresh snowfall in the city.

In a brief address to the ‘Bharat Yatris’, Gandhi thanked them for their love, affection and support through the 136-day foot march, which began in Kanyakumari on September 7 last year.

The Gandhi siblings later joined Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and scores of other party leaders at the Pradesh Congress Committee office on the Maulana Azad Road where another flag hoisting ceremony was held. The national anthem was played after this.

The administration had made stringent security arrangements for the programme as the famous Lal Chowk was off limits for vehicular traffic for the second consecutive day.

Thousands of office-goers had to foot the distance of around a kilometre or more to reach their work places in Lal Chowk and the adjoining areas.

Gandhi had on Sunday unfurled the national flag at the iconic clock tower in Lal Chowk to mark the end of the foot march of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.