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Rahul Gandhi Trims Beard After Over Five Months, New Look Goes Viral

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's new look has gone viral after he trimmed his long beard, which he had grown during his 145-day-long Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Rahul Gandhi Trims Beard After Over Five Months, New Look Goes Viral

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday (February 28, 2023) arrived in the UK to kick off his week-long tour with an address at the University of Cambridge.

The Wayanad MP, who is a Visiting Fellow of the Cambridge Judge Business School (Cambridge JBS), is scheduled to deliver a student-only lecture at the university on the subject of 'Learning to Listen in the 21st Century' on Wednesday.

Ahead of his tour, during which he will also interact with the Indian diaspora in London, Rahul Gandhi, 52, was seen with some students with a new look. 

In the pictures now going viral on social media, Gandhi is seen without his long beard and hair, which he had grown during his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Several people had praised the former Congress chief's "coming-of-age" look after the end of his 145-day-long foot march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.

"The beard has given him (Rahul Gandhi) a certain degree of seriousness," Prahlad Kakkar, an advertising industry veteran, had told news agency PTI after the 4,000 km Bharat Jodo Yatra concluded in Srinagar.

"He has arrived as a man, he is no longer Indira Gandhi's grandson, Rajiv Gandhi's son. He is now Rahul Gandhi, the man. That is a very critical change in how people perceive him today," Kakkar had said.

The Bharat Yodo Yatra was Rahul Gandhi's big "makeover act" and his scruffy beard was a symbol of this makeover, another expert had said.

Meanwhile, Gandhi will hold 'closed-door sessions' on 'Big Data and Democracy' and 'India-China relations' with the University of Cambridge Professor Shruti Kapila.

During his UK tour, the Congress leader will also interact with representatives of the Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) UK chapter and also address an 'Indian Diaspora Conference' planned over the weekend in London.

The Congress leader had last addressed the University of Cambridge at an event at Corpus Christi College entitled 'India at 75' during a visit to the UK in May 2022.