AAP MP Raghav Chadha on Friday expressed his love for all the memes being made about him raising popular – or public, according to some – issues in the Rajya Sabha. “I love the memes, you guys are really creative.. keep them coming,” he wrote on X with a meme of his own.
He published his still photo showing him speaking in the Senate of Parliament. He added a fictitious subtitle: “Sir, Yes Memes Nahi hoon chahya band…— as if he was telling the Rajya Sabha Speaker, in Hindi, that “these memes must not stop.”
Memes made it into the replies section of that post as well, explaining what he was actually talking about. One showed him raising the issue of coconut water: “Sidhi jab pais nariyal paani ki hain to sing nariyal naqi ki pais kyun din.” (“When we only buy water, why should we pay for the entire coconut?”)
He certainly didn’t actually raise the issue.
Another showed him demanding “four Sundays every week.” Another asked him to say: “Mr. Speaker, Aap Golmaal, Hairi Pheri, Dhammal Jesi, Nahi Baan Rahi films,” demanding more slapstick comedy from the Hindi film industry.
Some users pointed out his near absence from AAP affairs, including when the party celebrated the Court acquits chief Arvind Kejriwal and other leaders in Delhi liquor policy case. “If you really like it, we’ll flood you with memes, but don’t think we’ll forgive you for… getting rid of your teacher,” one X user commented.
There were also multiple responses praising his ability to take a joke and not threaten meme makers with legal issues.
In fact, the 37-year-old Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, one of the founding members of the AAP, was there for this Budget session, constantly raising public consumer-focused issues, from the frustrations of mobile phone recharging to what’s actually inside that carton of fruit juice.
On March 11, Chadha acquired telecom companies Prepaid return shipping policies. He wondered why incoming calls and SMS services are also blocked when the recharge expires. “If the recharge has expired, stopping outgoing calls may be understandable. But why stop incoming calls as well? Once it expires, people cannot be reached, and even essential messages like bank OTPs may not reach.” He said, noting that prepaid users constitute nearly 90% of India’s 125-crore mobile subscribers.
He followed this up on March 23 with an attack on the practice of expiring daily data limits. “You’re charged for 2GB. You use 1.5GB. The remaining 0.5GB disappears as the day ends. No refund. No extension. He’s just gone. This is not an accident. “This is politics.” He said, calling on all telecom operators to implement the rollover mechanism so that unused data is rolled over to the next day. It also called for the option to share unused data with family and friends.
Just one day later, on March 24, Chadha turned his lens to canned food. He raised the issue that many products display attractive images of fresh fruits on the front, while disclaimers such as “images are for marketing purposes only” are printed in small print on the back of the packaging.
“Do you think you’re drinking fruit juice? Think again,” He pointed out that these products are called “sugar syrups” that are disguised as healthy drinks. “What steps is the government taking to ensure a ban on misleading images is in place so that companies are not visually misleading while being technically compliant?” he asked.
This was, in fact, a continuation of the food safety theme he started in January, when he referred to food fraud as a “raging health crisis.” “Are products manufactured in India but banned internationally – those of two of our largest garam masala companies, banned in the US, UK and Europe for containing cancer-causing pesticides – still sold here?” he asked.
Earlier, he raised the issue of instant delivery through express commerce apps hurting gig workers. The BJP-led NDA government then asked the apps not to advertise ’10-minute’ promises.
His cherry-picking of everyday issues in his diatribe has spawned memes praising him for being a “middle-class activist” to others who claim he picks on public issues for attention alone. Social media users have also noticed his apparent move away from his party AAP.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, was recently asked about Chadha’s relative absence from AAP affairs. He replied that “only Raghav can answer this” and said that they maintain a cordial relationship. Chadha did not address this point directly.
