One of the key takeaways from Rahul Gandhi’s press conference on Monday (October 12, 2026) was his use of Shivji ki Baraat to counter the BJP’s narrative of top-down command and control with the Opposition’s fluid, decentralised style of protest.
At the same time, the Congress IT cell is working on casting Mr Gandhi as Batman. It started with an Ask Me Anything session on Instagram in August, where a user asked Mr Gandhi if he was Batman. When Gandhi was filmed scaling high yellow police barricades to wave the national flag, the party’s social media team spliced this footage with cinematic clips of Batman overlooking Gotham City, cementing the imagery online. A young Congress insider from Uttar Pradesh remarked that Gotham City people also believed they didn’t need a superhero.
Because the metaphor materialised into real-time action on the streets and prime-time television within minutes, while Mr Gandhi has used the Lord Shiva’s symbols inside the Parliament, such as showing the Abhaya Mudra or posters of deities, to talk about fearlessness, this press conference was different.
The ruling party accused the Opposition of turning serious debate into a theatrical pop culture stunt, with minister Jayant Chaudhary posting “Delhi isn’t Gotham, and we don’t need a dark superhero and Robin” on X. On a deeper, mythological level, he said, the imagery of Lord Shiva and Batman shows striking parallels. By deploying both symbols simultaneously during the protests, the party tapped into a shared psychological image of the “righteous outsider” fighting a “compromised institutional framework” to protect ordinary citizens.
With the INDIA alliance partners led by Yadav heirs (Akhilesh and Tejaswi) of Mandal politics on one side and the emerging face of Left politics, Neha Bora, on the other, Mr Gandhi attempted to translate the Opposition’s fight into a multi-polar collective where there is no singular ‘leader’ on a pedestal. During the march, a supporter passed a Batman mask through the crowd to the bus carrying senior opposition leaders. Mr Gandhi posed with the mask and playfully helped Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge try it on as well.
It is said Lord Shiva’s wedding procession was an unprecedented gathering that brought together entities who were otherwise bitter enemies or social outcasts.
