New Delhi: As Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stood in front of the Red Fort on the evening of December 24 and spoke to a huge crowd, even his most trenchant critics will have to admit it was a memorable, passionate, and clearly reasoned speech.
He spoke simply and from his heart. And perhaps, because of his physical proximity to the audience, he spoke conversationally, asked the audience questions, and responded to their comments.
During his speech at the Red Fort, Gandhi asked the audience not to bear any ill-will to the members of the electronic media present. “It’s not their fault they do what they do. Their masters are holding their lagaam (bridle).”
When he asked the audience who their ‘masters’ were, the crowd shouted “Ambani and Adani!”
And then, comparing India’s richest men to “pickpockets”, who distract their victims before they steal their money, he went on to tell his audience not to even blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi too much for the country’s disastrous economic condition, saying, “He can’t control his rich friends, they end up controlling him.”
Whatever one may think of Gandhi and his alleged role in his party’s misfortunes over the years, it cannot be denied that he is one of the very few Indian politicians who has consistently and regularly called out the prime minister’s proximity to the country’s richest industrialists.
It takes a level of courage to do so at a time when, practically, all the major print and television media outlets are owned by the two oligarchs.
Gandhi is also one of the few prominent leaders who has not held back from regularly lambasting the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its influence on the country’s democratic and educational institutions.
During his speech, he said, “Reporters keep asking me, ‘Don’t you feel cold walking around in just a T-shirt in winter?’ Why don’t they ask the same question to poor farmers and labourers, instead?”
Gandhi appears to have adopted a three-pronged messaging strategy throughout the yatra. (Some say he adopted this strategy even before.)
Demand social and economic justice for the poor,
Challenge and condemn crony capitalism,
Speak out against hatred and bigotry.
It is a strategy that seems to have struck a chord with the people across the country.
A photo of the Bharat Jodo Yatra in New Delhi on December 24, 2022. Photo: Rohit Kumar
As the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ reached the national capital, I spoke to Delhi’s residents to understand what exactly had brought them out on the streets in such huge numbers.
Also read: A Day With the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Haryana
Rishabh, a Delhi University student, who had joined the yatra in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, said what Gandhi shared in his speech, that secularism and solidarity are actually alive, and that the so-called ‘Hindu-Muslim divide’ is primarily a problem created by the media at the behest of the government. He also claimed that there is less ‘popular’ support for Modi than the media would have us believe.
“If there really is a ‘Modi wave’ in the country, then people should have thrown stones at the yatra as it passed through their cities because we criticise the government, right? Instead, they showered us with flower petals! What does that mean? It means the idea of secularism and solidarity is still alive and well with most people!”
A photo of the Bharat Jodo Yatra in New Delhi on December 24, 2022. Photo: Rohit Kumar
Naseem Ahmed, a resident of Batla House in Okhla, who was waiting for the yatra to pass by the New Friends Colony, said, “This yatra is bridging the divide between Hindus and Muslims.”
Asha Lal, a social worker, who was standing at the ITO crossing, said that the yatra has actually brought down the levels of hate on social media and in society.
School children waved flags as the yatra passed by. Simran, a class 7 student of Kasturba Kanya Vidyalaya, told me, “Thodi si gadbadi hai bharat me (India has a few problems).” When I asked her what kind of problems, she said, “Nafrat (hate).”
When I asked her how standing on the road and waving flags at a yatra would help solve that, she said, “When the government sees that a big crowd has gathered, they will say, oh, looks like we will have to change something now.”
Lokman, a rickshaw puller, said, “A gas cylinder used to cost us Rs. 400. Now it costs Rs. 1,200. Tell me, how can a labourer afford that?”
“Sometimes it’s Kejriwal, sometimes it’s Modi. Both of them have taken turns looting the nation. Modi has weakened the poor man. I request Rahul Gandhi to form the government and help us,” he said.
“Strengthen your party, Rahul Gandhi, strengthen your party! We are with you! And complete your yatra to Kashmir!” he added.
As I shook his hand and thanked him for his brief but lucid and insightful words, I couldn’t help but notice how rough his hand was. Interestingly, Gandhi commented on the same thing later in his speech, that over the course of the yatra, he had learned how to identify farmers and labourers, by the roughness of their hands.
As the day drew to a close, I asked a young Sikh man, who was wearing a ‘Bharat Jodo’ jersey, what he thought of the yatra.
Kuwamjeet Singh who is studying law, said, “I hope political parties stop bickering and work together to unite the nation, because this bickering will tear the nation apart. As an Indian, I believe in just one thing – unity without discrimination!”
Rohit Kumar is an educator with a background in positive psychology and psychometrics. He can be reached at letsempathize@gmail.com.
