New Delhi: In a few days, the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra will enter the northern precincts of India where the grand-old party will face stiff resistance from the hegemonic Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Since its beginning around two months ago, the Yatra spearheaded by Rahul Gandhi has had a comfortable run in the southern states, garnering widespread support and welcome. But it may be a different ball game in the northern states where BJP has been a dominant force not just electorally but also ideologically.
However, the Congress workers feel that the Yatra has the potential to draw in even larger crowds than in the South, especially since these states are affected the most by Hindutva-driven social polarisation – a phenomenon that the Yatra aims to counter.
A large number of party workers were initially unsure about the Yatra’s potential to benefit the Congress electorally. But over the past two months, many have come to believe that the long march will surely impact the current political environment significantly.
“‘Where is the opposition?’ is a question that the Congress has been facing for a long time. The Yatra is an answer to that question – the Congress is on the road with a leader who wants to unify India,” says Anshul Trivedi, a Madhya Pradesh-based Congress worker who has been participating in the Yatra for over two months.
He felt that the Yatra may also benefit the party in Madhya Pradesh, where assembly polls are scheduled next year.
“The opposition spectrum is wide and spread across India. However, the Yatra has foregrounded the Congress as one that can play the role of a principled national opposition when many other political parties are embroiled in a game of one-upmanship or have shown signs of compromising with their own ideology,” he said.
He added that Rahul Gandhi has shown his mettle in the Yatra. “Walking over 25 kilometres a day for over two months continuously is not a joke. His integrity, sincerity, his commitment, and uncompromising nature are there for everyone to see,” he said.
Representative image of a Congress party rally. Photo: Facebook/Pratibha Singh.
The Yatra has earned a lot of love for Gandhi. Most Congress workers said that people from diverse backgrounds have joined the Yatra to engage with him.
“Everyone who opposes the BJP or isn’t happy with the ruling party is happy with the Yatra. People from the social sector, women’s organisations, professions, social sector workers and actors have told us that such a pan-India Yatra was necessary. Some have told us that India needed a Yatra with a unifying message more than the Congress,” Trivedi said, adding that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is the biggest mass outreach after the BJP’s Rath Yatra.
Congress workers like Trivedi feel that the Yatra has great symbolic value given its message of ‘Bharat Jodo, Nafrat Chodo’ (Unite India, Reject Hate). “This has not only charged Congress workers for the long run but has inspired civil society to challenge the divisive forces in India. Even if the Yatra doesn’t bring the Congress any substantial electoral benefits, we are happy that such a Yatra was undertaken by the party,” a Congress worker who is currently in the Andhra Pradesh-Telangana leg of the Yatra told The Wire.
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Congress back in public conversations
To be sure, the Yatra has put the Congress back in public conversations despite sparse media coverage. More importantly, it has foregrounded Rahul Gandhi, more than any other opposition leader, as the primary challenger to the hegemonic BJP. Congress workers believe that if Rahul Gandhi leads the Yatra through its 3500-kilometre course from Kanyakumari to Kashmir over 150-odd days, he will reclaim his position as the only serious challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Rahul Gandhi is leading the Yatra with a focus on unifying our diverse country. He has been writing letters to various influential people to join the Yatra and asserting his viewpoint that India is a land of multiple traditions, cultures, and communities, and yet we are one. He is leading the Yatra with a kind of selflessness that India hasn’t seen in its leaders for a long time,” says Sandeep Singh who is a part of Priyanka Gandhi’s team.
“But for an unbiased observer, he is also presenting a contrasting image to BJP leaders like Modi, Amit Shah or even Yogi Adityanath,” he added.
“Here is one leader who changes his attire even in the aftermath of a tragedy like the Morbi Bridge collapse. And then there is Rahul Gandhi, who has been using only three or four pairs of clothes over the last two months even as he is walking the length of India,” Singh told The Wire.
Singh said that the immediate impact of the Yatra may not be clear but it is acting as “a balm” for all those who have been left out – farmers, Muslims, Christians, Dalits, Adivasis and youth – of the BJP’s scheme of majoritarian politics. “Bharat Jodo, as far as my observation goes, has given the much-needed healing touch to a country that has been wounded by communal polarisation and crony capitalism,” Singh said.
“There are people who come to listen to Rahul Gandhi. Some just come to see him and touch him with extreme affection. I feel these are gestures of love and respect and a reaction to politics that believes in slicing Indians into different communities and identities,” Singh said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi runs during the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, in Mahbubnagar district of Telangana, October 30, 2022. Photo: Twitter/@bharatjodo via PTI
“Rahul Gandhi is a leader who is absorbing the essence of India’s diversity with all humility. Tulsi Das in Ramcharitmanas had described Lord Ram as samanvyay ka mahanayak (a superhero of harmony). Even in our history, similar Yatras were undertaken by great people like Swami Vivekananda, Shankaracharya, Buddha and so on. Rahul Gandhi is following in their footsteps. So much strength – both mental and physical – is required to lead such a long march. The Yatra is Rahul Gandhi’s tapasya (asceticism), his bhakti at a time when politics has come to be characterised by strongmen, salesmanship and larger-than-life personality cults,” he added.
The Congress’s hope that the Yatra will bring political benefits may or may not prove to be true. But it has surely energised party workers, who are looking forward to taking on the BJP with renewed vigour. The Yatra will leave Telangana to enter Maharashtra on November 7, 2022 from where it will enter the northern states where the grand-old party will face its real challenges.
It also remains to be seen if the same energy will be exhibited by party workers if the party performs poorly in the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly polls. If the BJP emerges victorious in the two states, it will use the wins to deride the Yatra’s apparent success and run down Rahul Gandhi again. The Congress workers claim that they are working hard in the two states and admit that the Yatra may suffer a setback in case the party doesn’t stage a respectable performance.
With the conclusion of the Congress presidential elections, the party is showing a fighting spirit with a spark that was missing from the ranks for a long time. The credit for such an inspiration, even if a momentary one, must surely go to Rahul Gandhi.