Between September 2022 and January 2023, an epic 4,000-km nationwide march called the Bharat Jodo Yatra took place under the stewardship of Rahul Gandhi, Lok Sabha MP and former president of the Indian National Congress. Edited by Pushparaj Deshpande and Ruchira Chaturvedi, Bharat Jodo Yatra: Reclaiming India’s Soul is a comprehensive map of the why, what, and how of this Herculean undertaking. Going beyond the symbolic, it strives to capture the aspirations and reflections of the yatris and organisers and the eminent Indians who joined the Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. In doing so, it also attempts to understand and embrace India’s vast diversities. In the following excerpt from the chapter “Meditations on Gandhi, Indianness and Politics”, Dr Anshul Trivedi reflects upon his experience of encountering India’s diversity during the Bharat Jodo Yatra and argues how the idea of Bandhutva (fraternity), as opposed to Hindutva, should be the basis of rebuilding the nation.
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In the Indian tradition, a yatra—loosely translated to a journey or pilgrimage—has immense social and spiritual value. Most of our ancient holy sites are located atop remote mountains, because it is believed that only by embracing solitude and suffering can a person transcend the everyday life, which is dictated by the need to address immediate concerns. Therefore, it is not a coincidence that all the great prophets of India were yatris—whether it was Gautam Buddha, Guru Nanak or Shankaracharya. And yatras were central to their life stories.
Mahatma Gandhi’s first major political act upon his return to India was to journey through the entire nation like a commoner. This experience transformed him, but, more importantly, it transformed the Congress party from a debating club of the elite to an organization capable of launching sustained campaigns of non-violent mass action that eventually led to the liquidation of the British Empire. A yatra provides two very important things. For the spiritual seeker, it provides the time and space to reflect, meditate and see the bigger picture, thereby revealing simple yet profound truths that would otherwise evade them; for the political actor, it helps them connect with the common masses and develop an experience-based critique of the ruling sociopolitical orthodoxies of their time.
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The Bharat Jodo Yatra provided me with the time to reflect upon politics and life. The opportunity to meet thousands of people across the length of the country and experience their cultures enriched my understanding of India, Indianness and the Congress.
The ‘difficulty’ of being Indian
I distinctly remember that on the eve of the Yatra, I was full of excitement and very aware that something historic and audacious was being attempted. My only worry was whether the people were going to come out in support of the Yatra. However, all that changed within a few days. My fears were unfounded; the people were coming out in huge numbers to support us. However, now the lofty fear had been replaced by a banal but deep discomfort with the food being served in Kerala. It was not as if the quality of the food was bad, but the dishes and their preparation did not suit my palate. One of the most interesting things about Kerala was the ubiquitous fruit and juice shops that dotted our route. I used to have a lot of fruits and juices while walking, but they could not compensate for the food being served.
After walking around 25 kilometres in the heat, I used to be famished and mechanically ate whatever vegetarian food was on offer. To be honest, it did not taste all that good. There was no dal-roti, which could comfort me psychologically. Therefore, I ate little during the Kerala leg, or, in fact, throughout the southern leg of the Yatra and as a result lost a few kilos as well. I still remember the first time I got dal-roti-sabzi in Maharashtra—it was a mixture of relief and happiness. It was the first time I felt full on the Yatra. As a resident of Madhya Pradesh, I always lacked a sense of cultural belonging, because my state is an ensemble of different cultures. However, this discomfort made me aware of my deep entrenchment within north Indian culture. It also made me think about how my fellow yatris from the south would now feel for the remainder of the route when we moved towards the north.
Edited by Pushparaj Deshpande and Ruchira Chaturvedi, Bharat Jodo Yatra: Reclaiming India’s Soul is a comprehensive map of the why, what, and how of this Herculean undertaking.
It made me realize that it is not easy to be an Indian because one needs to cultivate a high degree of empathy and tolerance for difference to become truly Indian. To be able to respect differences, perhaps more than any other nation in the world, is a necessary condition for being an Indian citizen. The degree of diversity that an Indian is expected to respect is unprecedented when compared to any other nation. And while at the level of ideas, it is easy to mechanically repeat the slogan of ‘unity in diversity’, it is very difficult to practise it in real life.
My own ‘otherness’ in the south made me think about the marginalization of other cultures, especially those from the North-East. My experiential knowledge about that region was very limited, despite spending a good part of a decade in a truly multicultural university such as the Jawaharlal Nehru University. I was more acquainted with the American and Chinese cuisines rather than the cuisines of our North-East. In my view, this lack of cultural familiarity with our North-Eastern people is the fundamental reason for the continued racism and violence that they face in parts of Delhi and other states.
These differences are not artificial, but deep-rooted and organic in nature and, therefore, as Indians we must train ourselves to be more open, dialogic and empathetic towards our fellow citizens. Because the possibility of practising the politics of division will always be easier, given our diversity.
Fighting for Bandhutva
Politics without ideology is nothing but a gang war. A formation that does not fight for any ideas or values but only competes for power is not a political party but a mafia. The Bharat Jodo Yatra helped forge a new ideological consensus to respond to the politics of social and economic polarization built on the pretext of establishing a Hindu nation. It provided an alternative vision of the nation and a vocabulary of nationalism. We need to draw upon our history and rebuild the nation with the idea of Bandhutva, or fraternity, rather than Hindutva.
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In retrospect, it is clear that the Yatra was stupendously successful in transforming the political discourse of the country. When we were about to embark on this journey, the political climate was characterized by hopelessness for the Opposition. There were cocky assertions of ‘New India’ being brought to life with the support of corporate capital, and unending religious hatred and subversion of elected governments through the misuse of institutions. The Yatra did not only provide an ideological counter, but through its successful completion, demonstrated that the idea of India that our founders had was not only alive, but still had enormous appeal among the common masses of our country. It was nurtured by a political force that was willing to fight for it. And lastly, it had a leader in Rahul Gandhi, who was willing to take unwavering moral and ideological positions to defend that idea.
It is said that Vietnam won the war against the United States of America despite being no match for them technologically and financially because it had something much more valuable than bombs and money—it had something to fight for. The Bharat Jodo Yatra gave millions of Indians exactly that—an idea of India that is worth fighting for.
Dr Anshul Trivedi is a national media panellist for the Indian National Congress and a Bharat Yatri. Excerpted with permission of HarperCollins India from Bharat Jodo Yatra: Reclaiming India’s Soul edited by Pushparaj Deshpande and Ruchira Chaturvedi.
