A short clip from the recently published video of Rahul Gandhi interacting with a group of women students from the University of Delhi has gone viral on social media, with one brief exchange standing out.During the discussion, Rahul asked participants what was the riskiest thing they had done. Athira, Delhi University law faculty student from Kerala, replied: “Joining Congress.” The response has since been widely shared online.Athira later explained that the answer reflected personal circumstances. According to her, her father and his side of the family support Bharatiya Janata Party, while members of her mother’s family lean Left politically. She said when she expressed a desire to join Congress, her father stopped speaking to her for a week, and local BJP leaders known to the family visited their home urging her to join them instead.Athira said she eventually chose to work with the National Students Union of India, Congress Party’s student wing, and also supports Congress in Kerala.While the video shot at a South Delhi cafe on 21st April is being circulated as a candid discussion with students, participant accounts gathered by The Tribune have shown that the gathering was continued on page 3Joining Cong…dominated by students linked to Congress’ Party’s own student’s wing — the National Students Union of India with few girls with no stated affiliations.Among those present was Samriddhi Shrivastava, a political science student at DU, who is the unit president of her college under NSUI.Samriddhi said she had been actively involved in campus protests and student issues including fee concerns, infrastructure demands and women’s safety measures.The discussion with Rahul, Samriddhi said, was “diverse” with only four or five attendees from NSUI, and others participating in a political interaction for the first time.According to both Athira and Samriddhi, students were invited largely through personal contacts rather than any public announcement.While Samriddhi said organisers did not have a formal contact database for Gargi College and instead reached out through friends and known students there, Athira said she was contacted by Yakshna Sharma, whom she identified as a senior from the Faculty of Law and again associated with NSUI. Sharma was also present in the discussion. Apart from these Purnima Rawat, another DU student affiliated with NSUI also shared her thoughts with Rahul Gandhi during the discussion.Both said the meeting was held at a private venue rather than on a college campus.Independent enquiries by The Tribune have however revealed that most of the participants in the discussion had NSUI connections.That spart, the central issue during the talk was the recent Gargi College controversy, in which allegations surfaced that persons linked to Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad entered the campus and created disruption.Another interesting takeaway from the discussion was Rahul Gandhi’s generous praise for BSP chief Mayawati and late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha.When asked what he would do if elected to power at the Centre, Rahul, facing BJP’s ire over alleged stalling of the women’s reservation bill, said “We will enhance women’s political participation across spheres.”