At a recent internal meeting of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi suddenly caught the wrist of a leader sitting next to him. As the leader was caught by surprise, Gandhi nonchalantly explained to him a martial arts concept, linking it with politics.
The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha then also told his party colleague that he could make another move on him since the latter had completely shifted his attention to his wrist.
Unconventional it may seem, but Gandhi’s move was to tell the leaders that they should stay focused on the job at hand and not get diverted by the ruling BJP’s tactics. From the chant of “daro mat” – a key theme of his speeches a decade ago – to invoking “abhaya mudra” to drive home the message of fearlessness to the Congress workers a few years ago, he has now chosen to use martial arts terms and analogies to charge up his party’s rank and file.
Gandhi had come to the above meeting in full martial arts costume along with a professional Jiu-Jitsu instructor, who was his sparring partner that day. What followed was a discussion which ended in his Jiu-Jitsu demonstration for young party leaders. The session went on for nearly five hours, during which he also sparred with some of them. “It was fascinating to see the physical demonstration. Some part of the discussion was quite philosophical, like where one puts attention and where others can counter you… how do we think about life,” said a leader who was present there.
Politics could be about landing verbal punches and taking some counter hits. It is also about tactically ducking punches, exhibiting endurance and fortitude, outsmarting the opponent with strategies and occasionally even tiring them out or diverting their attention. And Gandhi knows better. He and his party have remained at the receiving end of the BJP’s attacks, political and at times no-holds-barred, since 2014. The Congress has repeatedly suffered electoral knockouts and the BJP has been relentless in its domination moves.
His frequent references to Jiu-Jitsu of late – he used martial arts “grip” and “chokehold” analogy to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha during a discussion on the Union Budget last month – and martial art demonstrations in Congress meetings and training camps have aroused much interest in the party. A section of party leaders believes it is unconventional while another says physical training is a trait of the “right wing” outfits. And some others, mostly his intra-party critics, scoff at it, calling it just “good entertainment”.
At a Congress training camp for newly-elected District Congress Committee (DCC) chiefs in January, Gandhi told them that they should, like in a martial arts combat, wriggle out and not let the BJP pin them down in the political field. The party should tactfully engage the BJP, not let its focus waver and neither let the rival overpower it.
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For long, Gandhi has believed that ideas and ideology must always precede personalities. He has often framed the fight between the Congress and the BJP as a battle between two ideologies.
A key question is, what has led to his bid to blend politics and martial arts. The idea first came during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022-23 and 2024. He engaged in training local children in martial arts during the yatra at the campsites, especially in the course of its second edition, while collaborating with local karate and judo clubs.
Those close to him say he has been drawing parallels between politics and martial arts, only to drive home the point that Congress leaders should be tactful, fearless and focused.
Sources say he has been a proponent of martial arts for the last 30 years. He has a black belt in Aikido, and a blue belt in Jiu-Jitsu.
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“For Gandhi Jiu-Jitsu is not just a physical thing, it’s more of a mental thing. It is a mental framework which he attempts to adhere to in large aspects of his personal life as well as political life. So he uses Jiu-Jitsu as a prism in several situations. It’s very instinctive for him to see a lot from what he has learnt via Jiu-Jitsu and its philosophy and techniques,” said a Congress leader.
This was after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that Gandhi decided to speak about it more openly. In his private conversations with those close to him, he always used to make references to martial arts and how it had helped him earlier in his life. “It was a very personal space for him. Then we started making it a little bit open. It started with the Yatra. He used to train with children practically every day during the Yatra. They used to lay out mats in the evenings after the Yatra, and he used to teach them. So that’s how it started becoming public,” said a party insider.
After the Lok Sabha polls, Gandhi began training with volunteers from the party’s frontal organisations. “A lot of Youth Congress and NSUI
office-bearers, basically younger people, all of them want to meet him. But he didn’t want to simply meet them to just discuss politics. So one of the frameworks that we started adopting was for him to teach them certain philosophies of life, how to live…then he said why don’t we introduce Jiu-Jitsu too,” said the insider.
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In August 2024, Gandhi announced that he will soon embark on a “Bharat Dojo Yatra” and will train with youngsters and children across the country in Jiu-Jitsu during his travels over the next few years. His idea was that the perception about martial arts needs to change as it was not just a combat sport.
“It has many other elements: self control, self defense, accepting defeat and victory. It is something very close to his (Gandhi’s) heart, and he wants to inculcate such values through these sessions among the youth,” a party leader said.
Another leader who attended one of his training sessions said: “It opens up discussions for youngsters for a freewheeling chat. Like on the mat, they’re all free and open to talk to him. So more than 600 people have trained with him in the party, both volunteers and office bearers. He has held more than 20 sessions with them,” the leader said.
“And once the Sangathan Srijan (organisation’s revival) exercise began (in late 2025), Rahul Gandhi said why don’t we extend this to senior people in the District Congress Committees too. It is a way of lightening the mood, sharing his philosophy, his learnings. It brings them closer to him, and they also open up. It is still evolving. He enjoys spending time with them in that manner instead of just a normal sit-down meeting,” said a leader, who has been part of several of these sessions.
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He added: “It is a different sort of atmosphere from conventional political meetings. It is basically an icebreaker, a different way of doing it. And it is also a hardcore philosophy which Rahul ji wants them to imbibe. Initially I was also skeptical, but the sessions are giving a very distinctive experience to those who are attending it besides creating a bond between them and him.”
Some of Gandhi’s in-house critics are far from impressed, though. They have always accused him of turning the party into a “NGO-like set-up”. “Now Rahul is turning it into a sports club, whereas the need of the hour is to show leadership,” said a senior party leader.
Another section of leaders however argue that such jibes should not be taken seriously. One of them said: “There are a set of people who are always unhappy. Gandhi is not doing anything which is detrimental to the party’s interest. And it is not that he is doing it 24×7. He has immersed himself in serious party work. This is just another way of connecting with the party cadre and volunteers.”
