The 3,500-km journey is the Congress’ mega plan to reach out to the nation’s people
Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra started yesterday down south. It started in Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the country, and would end after five months in Jammu & Kashmir. It would pass through 12 States and two Union Territories and cover a distance of 3,500 kilometres in five months. It is one of the biggest public outreach programmes being undertaken by the Congress party, which is passing through an existential crisis. Not only has the party shrunk in Parliament, but its vote share has shrunk too. Besides, even senior party leaders are deserting it. In this background, the Bharat Jodo Yatra becomes crucial. It would be an exercise not only to unite the country but also to unite the party. The Congress has indeed lost touch with the people and is confined to drawing room politics. But of late, especially after the Jodhpur convention, the party is making efforts to reach out to people and raise issues of unemployment, price hike and social fragmentation. Five months and 3,500 kilometres give Rahul Gandhi a golden chance to connect with people. The yatra is designed in such a way that it would have local participation at all times as Pradesh yatris would join it when it passes through. At any given point, 300 yatris would be there in the yatra. Rahul Gandhi would be accompanied by 118 Congress leaders. Kanhaiya Kumar, Chandy Oommen, Pawan Khera and Vijay Inder Singla are among prominent leaders to go on the yatra.
Before embarking on the journey, Rahul Gandhi had mentioned in a speech the rationale for undertaking the yatra. He said that all avenues were closed for the Opposition; it had been blacked out in Parliament and outside and all institutions have been compromised; so the only option he had was to go to the public and make them aware. The three basic issues on which the yatra would focus are economic disparities, social polarisation and pressing issues of stripping away of States’ power and concentration of power at the Centre. The yatra would create awareness that social polarisation is happening in the name of caste, religion, language, food, dress and misuse of Government agencies like the ED and CBI. Such political yatras are not new to our country and we have seen several of them: The most noticeable was LK Advani’s Rath Yatra in 1991 and former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar’s ‘pad yatra’ in 1983. Both of them were well received and were quite effective in mobilising the masses.