From jokes to political reactions: Everything that's making Pidi, Rahul Gandhi's pet dog a legit social media star

Here's why Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's pet dog Pidi has caught the fancy of social media users

Rakesh Jha
Oct 30, 2017

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has lately created a buzz on social media with his fresh Twitter strategy. Packed with humour and sarcasm, his tweets have raised curiosity among his followers and critics as to who is driving the 47-year-old’s social media strategy.

Taking a dig at those who question his sudden surge in popularity, the Gandhi scion on Sunday posted a video of his pet dog- Pidi-suggesting that the canine was behind his Twitter posts.

“People (have) been asking who tweets for this guy… I’m coming clean..it’s me..Pidi..I’m way smarter than him. Look what I can do with a tweet..oops..treat!,” Gandhi tweeted.

Ppl been asking who tweets for this guy..I’m coming clean..it’s me..Pidi..I’m way _ than him. Look what I can do with a tweet..oops..treat! pic.twitter.com/fkQwye94a5

— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) October 29, 2017

In the short video clip, Gandhi instructs Pidi to pose for “Namaste”. The dog also balances a crumb on its nose and at the snap of a finger, the crumb disappears into Pidi’s mouth. Within six hours, the tweet had got over 6,200 retweets and 15,000 likes.

The video, as expected, prompted reactions on microblogging from both fans and critics. While some appreciated the skills of the canine and shared the photos of their dogs, others were quick to point out the sense of “privilege and loyalty” that defines Congress High Command’s action. ‘Pidi Gandhi’ and ‘#Pidi” were among the day’s top Twitter trends.

Former Congress leader and now a BJP minister in Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma was swift in his rebuttal:

“Sir, Rahul Gandhi, who knows him better than me. Still remember you busy feeding biscuits to him while we wanted to discuss urgent Assam issues.”

Sir @OfficeOfRG,who knows him better than me.Still remember you busy feeding biscuits 2 him while We wanted to discuss urgent Assam’s issues https://t.co/Eiu7VsuvL1

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) October 29, 2017

Notedly, Sarma walked out of Congress alleging that Rahul Gandhi preferred to spend time with his pets when he tried to meet him in Delhi to talk about the party’s problems in the state.

Rahul Gandhi Explaining How His Dynasty Dictates & Rules Over Congress Men. _ #Pidi #PidiForCongressPresident pic.twitter.com/Ja4vgvmzPE

— Sir Jadeja (@SirJadeja) October 29, 2017

And then there were the usual trolls going about their job-

#Pidi, the dog with a higher IQ than its master https://t.co/SJQcV4SxdD

— The Masakadzas (@Nesenag) October 29, 2017

Congress should never come in power again else they would name a few 100 places after #Pidi Gandhi.

— Bhaad me Jaa.. (@iAbhishek_J) October 30, 2017

However, Gandhi got support from his party members and others as well.

I mean BJP relax @OfficeOfRG is Just playing with a DOG. Why are u so distressed that u had to send cabinet members as trolls. #Pidi pic.twitter.com/SDEkf2hxe3

— Midhat Kidwai (@midhatkidwai) October 29, 2017

Mitron, never forget this day when the Social Media team of the ruling party invested all their energy in trolling a….well….DOG #Pidi

— Scotchy (@scotchism) October 29, 2017

you tweet against him, or for him, #Pidi trend proves that @BJP4India has completely lost social media game. shows party’s nervousness.

— amey tirodkar (@ameytirodkar) October 29, 2017