Much ahead of the election season, it began as a sideshow: a bit of gym-floor bravado for the cameras. Now, it has practically emerged as a campaign strategy.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s televised pushups during the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ were meant to prove his stamina, spirit, and a new brand of “fitness politics". Instead, it opened a Pandora’s Box of performative fitness, where biceps meet ballots and abs meet ambition and aspiration.

The target audience here is young voters, first-timers, and Gen Z. Because in India 2025, nothing, not even a politician’s plank, is apolitical.

Early this week, Trinamool Congress general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee joined the pushup bandwagon, dropping down at a public event in West Bengal and flexing for the cameras. The crowd roared, the vid

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