Don't Call Me 'Sir', Says Rahul, Puducherry Students Opt For 'Rahul Anna'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi won a lot of hearts and cheers on Wednesday when he stopped a student in Puducherry from addressing him as "sir".

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"My name is Rahul. You can call me Rahul. You can address your principal and your teachers as 'sir'", he said while addressing students of Bharathidasan Government College for Women in Puducherry — much to the students' delight.

But, apparently hesitant of calling the Congress leader by his first name, the student asked Rahul if she could call him "Rahul anna" instead. To which he responded: "Yeah, you can call me 'Rahul anna'. That's good."

He also obliged a student with an autograph and hugs. The visibly emotional student could barely contain her excitement.

Videos of the incident have since gone viral and have garnered a lot of appreciation, especially among students with #Rahulanna trending on Twitter.

The Congress leader reached poll-bound Puducherry for a two-day visit.

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This is not the first time that Rahul has urged students to call him by his name. In 2019, after being addressed as "Rahul sir" during an interaction with students of Stella Maris College, the Congress leader had requested the audience to not call him "sir".