{"id":7949,"date":"2026-08-02T17:15:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T17:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=7949"},"modified":"2026-08-02T17:15:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T17:15:28","slug":"not-korean-heart-counting-fingers-shehzad-poonawallas-swipe-at-rahul-gandhi-over-gen-z-post-india-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=7949","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Not Korean heart &#8230; counting fingers&#8217;: Shehzad Poonawalla&#8217;s swipe at Rahul Gandhi over Gen Z post | India News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-132808495,imgsize-75873,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg\" alt=\"'Not Korean heart ... counting fingers': Shehzad Poonawalla's swipe at Rahul Gandhi over Gen Z post\" title=\"Shehzad Poonawalla; Rahul Gandhi\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Shehzad Poonawalla; Rahul Gandhi\">Shehzad Poonawalla; Rahul Gandhi<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>NEW DELHI: Former BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Sunday took a swipe at <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/rahul-gandhi\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rahul Gandhi<\/a> over his Friendship Day message for Gen Z, referring to the Korean finger heart emoji in the Congress MP&#8217;s social media post as \u201ccounting fingers\u201d, accusing the Gandhi family and the grand old party of corruption.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/>Poonawalla, a former Congress spokesperson, resigned from the BJP in a surprise move on Friday. He has frequently targeted Rahul Gandhi since leaving the Congress.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"6\"\/>\u201cNo, no, no, don\u2019t mistake it for the Korean heart gesture shared on Friendship Day,\u201d Poonawalla said in a video posted on X, claiming that the gesture was \u201cnothing new\u201d for Rahul Gandhi and the Congress.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"10\"\/>\u201cRahul Gandhi ji said, \u2018Still a student, learning something new every day.\u2019 <!-- -->But this is not a new gesture for him. This is not a Korean heart&#8230; this is counting fingers,\u201d he remarked, placing a few currency notes between his fingers to mimic the Korean finger heart gesture.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"15\"\/>He continued: \u201cCounting corruption every day. Taking corruption bribes every day. The Gandhi family has more than an apprenticeship in this \u2014 they have a PhD. Ask the Karnataka government&#8230; \u2018counting fingers.\u2019 Happy Friendship Day.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"18\"\/>Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi, in an apparent attempt to connect with Gen Z, posted a photo on Instagram and wrote: \u201cStill a student, still learning something new every day. Today\u2019s lesson: it\u2019s Friendship Day and this \ud83e\udef0 is a heart. Happy Friendship Day, everyone. Lots of love!\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"LEzX4\">\n<div class=\"PmOGb\">\n<p class=\"PSf84\">Share your thoughts in the comments<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Insightful<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Agree<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Disagree<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Skeptical<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Concerning<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Promising<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Worth Reading<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Big Development<\/button><\/p>\n<p><textarea class=\"T9MbS\" rows=\"1\" placeholder=\"Add your Thoughts...\"\/><button type=\"button\" class=\"ZW6JD \" disabled=\"\">Post Comment<\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"swnca\">Be respectful \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatimes.com\/termsandcondition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"gkv0P\">TOI community guidelines<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"21\"\/>In the photo, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha is seen wearing his trademark white shirt and making the popular Korean finger heart gesture.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>The Wayanad MP has increasingly used social media to engage with younger audiences in recent years.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"26\"\/>The outreach comes at a time when student and youth issues have gained renewed political attention, including after recent protests in Delhi that culminated in the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as Union education minister.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"28\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/not-korean-heart-counting-fingers-shehzad-poonawallas-swipe-at-rahul-gandhi-over-friendship-day-post-for-gen-z\/articleshow\/132808492.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shehzad Poonawalla; Rahul Gandhi NEW DELHI: Former BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Sunday took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi over his Friendship Day message for Gen Z, referring to the Korean finger heart emoji in the Congress MP&#8217;s social media post as \u201ccounting fingers\u201d, accusing the Gandhi family and the grand old party of corruption.Poonawalla, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Shehzad Poonawalla; Rahul Gandhi NEW DELHI: Former BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Sunday took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi over his Friendship Day message for Gen Z, referring to the Korean finger heart emoji in the Congress MP&#8217;s social media post as \u201ccounting fingers\u201d, accusing the Gandhi family and the grand old party of corruption.Poonawalla, [&hellip;]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":1,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":2,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/shehzad-poonawalla-rahul-gandhi.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-31\">\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}