A photo of Rahul Gandhi which appeared to have been taken shortly after he jumped into the ocean for a swim with fishermen in Kerala, has gone viral. In the photo, the outline of abs could be faintly seen through his shirt. The faint outline was enough for several prominent people to heap praises on Twitter and asking him for fitness tips. 

 Last year, the Covid-19 induced lockdown has made most of our schedules with whatever athleticism turn into a sedentary one but Gandhi seems to have not skipped out on his gym days.

Rahul Gandhi

 On Wednesday Mr. Gandhi interacted with the fishermen at Thangassery beach in the district. Gandhi, who had been touring the state for the last two days, also ventured into sea with the fisherfolks in their boat.

During the interaction, Gandhi said he always wanted to experience the life of fishermen.

"Early this morning, I went to sea with my brothers. From the moment the boat went and came back, they took the entire risk... their entire labour. They sought to the sea, buy the net and somebody else gets the profit," Gandhi said.

further he tweeted, "Every morning our nation's fisherfolk work tirelessly to provide for millions of Indians. The work they do is difficult & painstaking but incredibly rewarding. It was an honour & a privilege to spend time with them & experience just a fragment of the hard work they put in," .

"We tried to fish but got only one. Even with this investment, the net came back empty. This was my experience," he added. Gandhi further said he would strive to have a separate ministry for fisheries at the Cent"So that the issues of fishing community can be defended and protected," he said adding that the UDF leaders in the state would soon hold discussions with the fisherfolk to prepare a separate manifesto for them during the impending assembly polls. Taking a dig at the LDF government apparently over the ongoing controversy related to the alleged deep sea fishing contract, the Congress leader said he would like to see what they were going to do with the trawlers.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal and T N Prathapan M P, also chairman of National Fishermen Congress, also accompanied him during his sea journey.

Netizens react to the viral photo of Gandhi

Vijender Singh, who won bronze and silver medals for boxing at the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, was among those who shared the image. He tweeted the image of Rahul adding, "Abs of a boxer... Most daring young fit & people's leader Way to go..."

"Requesting Shri@RahulGandhi to share some tips with everyone on getting those abs. #FitnessGoals #Fitness"

"There are very few politicians who care about their bodies, one of them is shri Rahul Gandhi"