Ahead of the his party’s mega ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ campaign – being billed as the “longest yatra mounted in this country over the last century”, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday sought to reach out to the civil society and maintained that he is ready for the “long battle” to “unite” the country.
Addressing a gathering of civil society representatives, Rahul stressed that the politics of the country has become “polarised” and the idea of undertaking the yatra is to tell that on one side there is the ideology of the Sangh and on the other side is the ideology of uniting everyone.
Congress had announced last week it will launch on September 7 the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. “We are starting this journey with the belief that the people of India want the politics of uniting, not dividing,” he was quoted as saying during the interaction.
The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra Conclave’ here was attended by over 150 civil society organisations, movements, professionals and Unions with the likes of Aruna Roy, Syeda Hameed, Sharad Behar, P V Rajgopal, Bezwada Wilson, Devanoora Mahadeva, GN Devy and Yogendra Yadav, participating in it.
The participant organisations in a statement welcomed the decision of launching the Yatra and expressed their willingness to engage with the initiative. It was also decided that an appeal will be issued in the coming days for larger engagement of various civil society groups, Jan Andolans and individuals, the statement said.
Senior party leader Digvijaya Singh presented the details of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ to the civil society delegates and invited those speaking up on people’s issues to participate in it.
Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who was present in both sessions, said Rahul spent almost 90 minutes interacting with about 150 civil society organisations drawn from 21-22 states of the country.
“He (Gandhi) answered questions from 35-40 people. He had no notes or pad in his hands, and definitely no tele-prompter,” Ramesh said in an apparent swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi who he often claims reads from the tele-prompter.
Ramesh said Rahul talked about how the Yatra is planned and what he expects from that. He identified three main pillars of the Bharat Jodo Yatra -- economic, social and the political, Ramesh said.
Ramesh elaborated saying there were very grave economic challenges confronting the country on account of inflation, unemployment and concentration of economic wealth and growing regional disparities.
He also pointed to social polarisation on the basis of caste, religion, dress, food and language and there were political challenges on account of growing use of the Centre’s institutions and complete weakening of the states.
“The yatra is by the Congress. Its leaders are participating in it. It is a political yatra in a non-partisan way. We have appealed to other political parties, civil society groups and individuals who are worried, concerned, anguished and pained at the current state of the Indian democracy, society and economy to participate in the Yatra,” he said.
“We will launch logo, tagline and website of this 3,500-km long yatra which will be the longest yatra mounted in this country over the last century or so,” he added.
The former party chief will participate in the yatra starting September 7 from Kanyakumari, Ramesh said.
The “padayatra” (foot march) will cover 12 states and two Union territories. It will be about 3,500-km long and will be completed in about 150 days, Ramesh told reporters last week.