As Rahul Gandhi protests against ECI, right-wing’s ‘gotcha’ moment is a chicken roll

As Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and other prominent leaders of the India bloc protested against the massive irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls on October 6, a section of the Hindu right-wing appeared to discover a far more pressing national issue: what he was eating.

Rahul Gandhi was spotted eating a roll while protesting with INDIA bloc leaders after their march to the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters was stopped by the Delhi Police. For several verified accounts on X, however, the roll was apparently more consequential than the allegations surrounding the revision of electoral rolls.

The outrage came with its own carefully assembled set of supposed incriminating details. It was an chicken roll. The eatery that sold it was reportedly owned by a Muslim. And, most importantly, it was Tuesday.

The implication was that Rahul Gandhi had somehow committed a religious transgression by eating an egg or a chicken on a day that some Hindus consider auspicious and avoid non-vegetarian food. Several posts questioned Rahul Gandhi’s commitment to his Hindu faith, while others claimed he was eating chicken during Shradh, a period when many Hindu families pay homage to and offer food to their departed ancestors.

In other words, while the Opposition was protesting over mass deletion of voters from the electoral rolls, a section of the online Hindu right-wing decided to conduct an investigation into Rahul Gandhi’s lunch.

Several verified X accounts amplified the claims, presenting Gandhi’s food choices as evidence of hypocrisy or a lack of commitment to Hinduism. The arguments appeared to rest on the assumption that there is a single, uniform Hindu dietary code that applies to everyone, regardless of region, community, family practice or personal belief.

Rahul Gandhi is eating a roll from Khan Chacha at the protest site. When I zoomed in on the roll’s packaging, I noticed a red symbol on it, which is usually used to indicate non-vegetarian food.

So, does this mean Rahul Gandhi, being a Hindu, is eating non-veg on a Tuesday? pic.twitter.com/EFUofWySab

— Saffron Chargers (@SaffronChargers) October 6, 2026

Waah kya scene hai ! Kya scene hai

Shradh mein chicken khaya jaa raha hai pic.twitter.com/msl1EEqKWG

— Arun Arora (@Arun2981) October 6, 2026

Rahul Gandhi is protesting at Akashvani Bhavan and has ordered lunch from Khan Chacha in the middle of the afternoon.

The food package has a red mark on it, which is used as a non vegetarian sign. Even the roll packaging has the FSSAI’s red mark for non vegetarian food.

So,… pic.twitter.com/MAfMEf9l5b

— Amit Kumar Sindhi (@AMIT_GUJJU) October 6, 2026

Pitru Paksha is going on, but Rahul Gandhi and the entire Congress team are eating chicken rolls of Khan Chacha.

Khan Chacha owner's son was arrested in fraud digital arrest case. pic.twitter.com/YYdhaicZE6

— Ankur Singh (@AnkurSingh) October 6, 2026

The militant vegetarian thrust of the average @BJP4India supporter! Vast majority of India (80% +) has meat, fowl & seafood in its diet FYI https://t.co/PhXxRSVQpk

— Karti P Chidambaram (@KartiPC) October 6, 2026

On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi, along with INDIA bloc leaders, had staged a prolonged sit-in at Akashvani Bhawan after police stopped the Opposition’s march from Parliament towards the ECI headquarters.

The Opposition MPs had sought a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the other Election Commissioners to raise their concerns over the SIR exercise.

“300 opposition MPs were removed from there, so I came here and sat. We just want to meet Gyanesh Kumar and the other election commissioners. We are all opposition MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and we just want to talk to them. Don’t know why the Election Commission does not want to talk to us. Crores of people have voted for us. We just want to ask questions, but they don’t want to answer,” Rahul Gandhi said.

He later said the Opposition was willing to continue the sit-in and asked the police to provide an alternative venue if they did not want the protest to continue at Akashvani Bhawan.

“All I want to do is meet the Chief Election Commissioner and tell him that he has done ‘vote chori’. I can continue to sit here. I am comfortable here. If they don’t want us to sit here, give me some other site,” Gandhi said.

The ECI, however, disputed the Opposition’s claim that it had sought a meeting. In a statement issued on Tuesday evening, the poll panel said no political party had sought an appointment until 4 pm.

The agitation against the ECI has intensified following an Indian Express report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on 14 occasions over 10 months to decisions taken by the Commission on issues including voter additions and deletions. The ECI has said differences of opinion and suggestions are part of the decision-making process and that all final decisions were unanimous.

The protest also came a day after the Supreme Court clarified that it had not approved changes made by the ECI to Form 6, the statutory form used for voter registration. The court said it would examine the ECI’s records to determine who authorised the changes.