Rahul Gandhi's 'sleeping' act: Look beyond the mockery

Sleeping at workplace, though subject to mockery and signals lethargy, experts have felt these acts help in boosting productivity

Even as the Parliament witnessed intense debates and protests on the back of violence in Gujarat, one man’s ‘calm and composed’ antics stole the show, with his act grabbing headlines immediately. 

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, during the Monsoon Session in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, was caught napping when Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge was tearing into the Centre’s Dalit outreach with recent incidents of atrocities on the community’s members. The House was witnessing outrage over brutal assault of 

Dalit youth by ‘cow protectors’ for allegedly killing cows in Una, 360 kilometres from Ahmedabad. Following that, the House saw disruption again when BSP chief Mayawati was insulted by Uttar Pradesh BJP’s vice-president who compared her to a prostitute. 

Meanwhile, pictures and screenshots of the leader sleeping ‘amid the chaos’ went viral and were subject to mockery on social media. Many wondered aloud if the current state of the grand old party reflected in their leader's apparent disinterest even as a serious debate of national interest was going on in the house. 

But what fuelled the frenzy was the array of defence statements that Congress leaders came up with to justify or clarify the act. 

Take Renuka Chaudury, for instance, who went on to say that the heat outside was so intense that Gandhi was closing his eyes to relax. “It is hot outside, so people usually go inside the Parliament which has air-conditioning and therefore close their eyes to relax. Can anyone sleep in this noise?" she asked. 

Senior leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi took the defence to a whole new level. He spoke about how Gandhi was checking his mobile phone. “It's not a crime to check a cellphone,” Singhvi said.

Twitter and Facebook users trolled the Congress Vice-President and mocked him extensively for his act. They also reminded Gandhi that this was the second time in two years that he fell asleep during an ongoing session — the first time being in 2014.  

Gandhi’s incident is not the first instance of someone found sleeping at their workplace. In fact the Indian 

Parliament has witnessed similar scenes in the past as well — ex-PM HD Deve Gowda had become the poster boy of napping at workplace. 

The issue throws an interesting light on the subject of napping at workplace. While sleeping at workplace is considered to be a sign of lethargy and carelessness, globally, there have been studies regarding the act boosting productivity at workplace. In fact, countries like Japan actually encourage napping at public places, a phenomenon termed as inemuri, according to this BBC report.

"The positive image of the worker bee, who cuts back on sleep at night and frowns on sleeping late in the morning, seemed to be accompanied by an extensive tolerance of so-called ‘inemuri’ – napping on public transportation and during work meetings, classes and lectures. Women, men and children apparently had little inhibition about falling asleep when and wherever they felt like doing so," writes Brigitte Steger in this BBC report.  

A study by University of Michigan in 2015 revealed that taking a nap may be an effective strategy to counteract impulsive behavior and to boost tolerance for frustration.

Sleeping on the job, though a subject of mockery is a universal truth. Many such reports, like those mentioned earlier, indicate that one need not look down upon the act to the extent of personal attacks.  Whether or not this applies in case of Gandhi is open for debate.