Posters portraying Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi as the “real-life Batman” have appeared near the Congress headquarters at Indira Bhawan and in parts of central Delhi. The posters were displayed near the entrance of Indira Bhawan on Kotla Road and close to the Indian Youth Congress office on Raisina Road.

The posters, put up by Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress president Akshay Lakra, featured Gandhi alongside the fictional superhero Batman. They carried phrases such as “The Silent Guardian” and “A Watchful Protector”. Another message on the posters described Gandhi as “LoP Rahul Gandhi – The Real Life Batman”.

The posters were put up days after Gandhi addressed a question about whether he was Batman during an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session on Instagram.

Responding with humour, Gandhi avoided directly comparing himself with the fictional superhero, saying that no one had ever seen him and Batman in the same room.

The Congress MP had hosted the Instagram session as part of an outreach to Gen Z, prompting users to send in a wide range of questions, from serious issues to casual and witty ones.

Meanwhile, during his Pune address on Saturday, he explicitly urged Gen Z women to "smash" the patriarchy, be loud, be proud, and aggressively fight for their space in society.

Gandhi took to X and said, “Women are the strength of India - its foundation, its present, and its future. You belong to no one but yourself. Be loud. Be proud. Fight for your space. Smash the patriarchy!”

Gandhi made the remarks while emphasising the contribution of women in shaping India’s present and future at the ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ campaign in Maharashtra on Saturday.

Speaking at the event, he said the country’s biggest strength comes from the aspirations, dreams and potential of its women.

"Many times, people ask me, 'What is India's biggest strength?' You get many answers when you ask this question. Somebody will say our economy. Somebody will say our military. Somebody will say our medical system. Somebody might even say our people, but I am very clear on what is India's biggest strength, our biggest asset, and that strength is 70 crore unique journeys, unique imaginations, unique dreams that the women of India are living," he said.

Gandhi also slammed the practice of defining women primarily through their relationships with others, stressing that their identities should not be confined to conventional roles.

"Whenever I speak to a man, women are put in three boxes. You are seen as a daughter, a wife, or a mother. Now, there is nothing wrong with being seen as a wife, daughter, or mother. But this cannot be your only identity," he stated.

Gandhi said women who have made a mark as professionals, sportspersons and in other areas should be recognised for their achievements rather than being viewed only through traditional roles.

While discussing historical perceptions of women, he also cited the Manusmriti and referred to a passage that, according to him, denies women independence.

Launched by Gandhi in 2026, the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ campaign aims to give students a platform to raise concerns related to examination irregularities, paper leaks, increasing education costs, recruitment issues and unemployment.

The campaign has earlier been organised in Kota, Dehradun and Prayagraj, with the objective of bringing student concerns and grievances into the national political discourse.

Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories, focusing on accuracy and compelling storytelling for readers.

With a total of six years of experience in journalism, he has previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google, taking on the role of news curation lead, and reported from the field on health, education, and agriculture stories for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations.

Garvit holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’.

He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune.

He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AFP.

He can be reached on LinkedIn or on @garvitbhirani on X

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