Rahul’s video of sea jump in Kerala goes viral

TRIVANDRUM: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has shared his video of taking a jump from a country boat into the Arabian Sea and swimming with fishermen off Kerala coasts on Wednesday.

The short video he shared with his Instagram followers on Thursday soon went viral on social media plaforms and drew both appreciative and mocking comments.

In the 26-second video, he was seen holding the hand of his fellow diver, jumping into the sea and enjoying a swim with the fishermen.

He also shared a few pictures of him enjoying the venture, casting a net and eating bread and fish with the fishermen.

The Nehru scion went fishing early morning from Thankassery harbour in Kollam district and spent nearly three hours at sea before interacting with a huge gathering of the fishing community back on the beach.

“Every morning our nation’s fisherfolk work tirelessly to provide for millions of Indians,” he wrote on Instagram sharing the pictures and the video.

“The work they do is difficult and painstaking but incredibly rewarding.”

“It was an honour and a privilege to spend time with them and experience just a fragment of the hard work they put in,” he added.

Gandhi, who represents Kerala’s Wayanad constituency in Lok Sabha, India’s lower house of parliament, was in the state to launch his party’s state election campaign.

Kerala is going to polls along with West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during April-may, the schedule of which is yet to be finalised.

TN Prathapan, a fellow lawmaker and a fishing community leader in Kerala, who accompanied him, said the fishermen had no idea about who was coming to join them into the sea.

“At first, they were shocked to see him. But he befriended them easily and enjoyed every moment,” Prathapan told Gulf Today.

“I had only told them that it’s for me and my friend when we arranged the boat. We started before sunrise and nobody at the harbour recognised him.”

“Even the local police and our party leaders were unaware of his plans as his security people wanted to make it secretive,” he added.

They started at 5.15 and returned at 7.45. Congress party general secretary KC Venugopal was also with them on the boat.

They got only one squid and four small sardines in the 520-kg net at the end of the labour.

“He was a bit upset at the poor catch indicative of depleting fish wealth along our coasts,” Prathapan said.