Wardrobe matters!
2 Feb 2018 4:48 PM GMT
The few occasions when political figures give the countrymen a chance to feel good and happy are mostly related to their sartorial extravaganza. Earlier this week, Congress President re-invoked his famous 'suit-boot ki sarkar' jibe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Instead of going defensive on the Prime Minister's lavish wardrobe, BJP hit back at Congress President accusing him of wearing an expensive jacket of nearly $1,000. He was seen at a musical event in Shillong during his visit to Meghalaya as part of his election campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state on February 27. Otherwise, the Gandhi scion is seen wearing regular blue jeans and a white kurta. Once, he also showed a big hole in one of his kurta pockets during a public rally to the people, saying he wears simple clothes while the Prime Minister wears designer clothes. Both the Meghalaya unit of Congress and national level leaders like Kiran Chaudhary reacted to BJP's riposte by saying that the black Burberry jacket worn at the Shillong event was gifted to him by some party workers and that BJP does not find any meaningful issue against the Congress top leader and is indulging in cheap publicity. But what is clear from the ongoing slugfest is that BJP has effectively countered Congress President's off-and-on jibe of suit-boot ki sarkar. It is true that Prime Minister Modi has been consistently sporting fashionable clothes ever since he was announced BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. When BJP had objected to the high-budget ad blitzkrieg run by AAP government in Delhi, the AAP leadership famously retorted saying that Delhi government's ad budget is lower than the dressing budget of the PM. But in a reply to an RTI question, the PMO explained clearly that the government does not bear the cost of the dresses the Prime Minister wears. Let's not forget how AAP workers glorified the muffler that Arvind Kejriwal would sport, leading to nicknaming him as the Mufflerman!
The one time that the variety of outfits some of our leaders like to dress in took a serious political toll was during the terrorist attack in Mumbai in 2008. The then Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil was seen in three different suits on the same day even though Mumbai was under siege of militant attack. Patil had to resign for his department's failure to prevent the terrorist attack, the demand for which got accentuated because he appeared on television in three different suits in the morning, afternoon, and evening. But when it comes to dressing in expensive clothes, neither the PM nor the Congress President figure prominently in any of the global lists of well-dressed politicians. However, former Congress Sonia Gandhi finds mention in some of these lists. Indian magazines and websites, too, try to come up their list of well-dressed politicians and Shashi Tharoor, Renuka Chowdhury, Agatha Sangma, Sachin Pilot, Omar Abdullah, Sonia Gandhi, Vasundhara Raje Scindia and Jyotiraditya Scindia find mention in these old lists. If we compare how other world leaders dress, we find that Indian leaders are still way behind in terms of spending on dressing. While former US President Barack Obama not only wore crisp formal suits and shining black shoes, he also put his legs on the President's official table to pose for a picture. Current US President's Donald Trump's wife Melania Trump wears dresses costing no less than $ 50,000 every time she accompanies the President to foreign trips and while meeting foreign heads of states or during a gathering of world leaders. During a recent G7 Summit in Sicily, the First Lady was attired in a $51,500 Dolce & Gabbana jacket. And, the suites that Obama and Trump wear may not cost any less. As far as Indian taste is concerned, the people would like to see their leaders sporting stylish and fashionable clothes, which can be made from Khadi as well!
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