One step at a time: Bharat Jodo Yatra completes over 50 days on the road

The Congress-led yatra has yielded images of a sea of humanity marching with Rahul Gandhi.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi marches with party leaders D.K. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah after the Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Tumakuru district, Karnataka. | Photo Credit: PTI

On the evening of September 7, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi received the tricolour from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial in Kanyakumari, the southern tip of India’s mainland, and embarked on a journey that is meant to end many months and over 3,570 km later in Kashmir. Walking with him are 150 select Congress members, who plan to stay on until the end.

Rahul spoke about the unifying power of the tricolour and changing the atmosphere of hatred in the nation, leaving nobody in doubt about who his target was: the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its communal politics.

From that first day, at each of his stops and at every press interaction, he has targeted the BJP brand of politics and underlined its potential to destabilise India. On September 10, the walkers left “the land of Thiruvalluvar and Kamaraj” and entered Kerala only to return to Tamil Nadu 19 days later when he crossed into Gudalur from Nilambur.

Big bang start

As a few thousand people, including Congress leaders who had flown in from Delhi, walked from Kanyakumari, it was clear that the yatra had got the big bang start it was looking for. Interestingly, it lit up social media, but large sections of the mainstream media chose to ignore it.

Congress leaders this correspondent spoke to in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and New Delhi said that Rahul was talking directly to the people at each of his stops; he did not need the media. “The people listened to him. In fact, they were keen to hear what he had to say,” said one leader.

In Kerala, the party machinery worked overtime to welcome Rahul. This correspondent travelled from Thiruvananthapuram to Palakkad on September 7 by road, (a distance of about 350 km) and saw large parts of the national highway decked up for the march.

Rahul Gandhi interacts with students during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kerala, on September 14. | Photo Credit: PTI

In Kerala, Rahul looked at home, making it a fun-filled 19 days, rowing a snake boat along with a team of professionals, obliging selfie requests from the public, talking to young people, and visiting some landmarks, including the Sree Narayana Guru Samadhi. Rahul seemed to fire up the Kerala Congress cadre, speaking to several younger party leaders. For once, the older leaders too put aside their differences to ensure a smooth yatra.

It set the tone for the rest of the yatra as it wound its way through Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.

Conquest in Karnataka

The yatra entered Karnataka on September 30, with huge crowds in Gundulpet. Rahul spent 22 days in the State, excluding the detour to Andhra Pradesh and, according to the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), covered 511 km. By the time he exited the State on October 24, having passed through towns and villages in Chamarajanagar, Mysuru, Mandya, Tumakuru, Chitradurga, Ballari, and Raichur districts, there was a spring in every Congressman’s step: by their reckoning the Assembly election in the State next year had been sealed in the Congress’s favour.

Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi marches with party workers during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, in Mandya district, on October 6. | Photo Credit: PTI

On October 7, Mohan Rao, a retired professor of public health from Jawaharlal Nehru University now based in Bengaluru, woke up at 5 am and set off to Nagamangala in Mandya district to participate in the yatra. “I felt compelled to participate because of the sheer desperation across the country and particularly in Karnataka over the destruction of constitutional values by the BJP,” he said. “Karnataka was known as a progressive State but look at all the things happening here against religious minorities. I spoke to a wide range of youth who had come to the yatra and not one of them was a Congress worker but had been moved by the purpose of the yatra.”

The next day, Rahul Gandhi met the media. He said: “I wanted an element of suffering for myself so that while I am talking to my people I can share their suffering. I find it to be a very powerful experience… 31 days is nothing. The thing I am realising, which I always believed but it is becoming crystal clear to me, is that there is tremendous wisdom in our people. That is wasted by the type of politics and the type of system that we are running.”

Tanveer Ahmed, who is associated with Mercy Angels, an NGO active during the pandemic, was in the yatra at Hiriyur in Chitradurga district on October 12. He said, “Rahul Gandhi is talking about unity, unemployment, inflation, and against the divisive politics of the BJP. Whether the Congress follows up to address these issues is in the future, but at least someone is actually talking about them. Apart from political aspects, I was amazed at Rahul’s fitness; at 52, he walks 25-30 kilometres a day.” Kavitha Lankesh, sister of slain journalist Gauri Lankesh, who walked with Rahul on October 7, said, “I heard Rahul Gandhi talking about forgiving his father’s killers. I think he is very magnanimous and kind. I haven’t reached his stage yet but only an extremely kind person can do that.”

Apart from interacting with a variety of people during the march, Gandhi held thematic discussions with farmers, educational experts, disability activists, and ex-servicemen. In Badanavalu village in Mysuru district, which Mahatma Gandhi visited in 1927, Rahul Gandhi inaugurated a lane connecting the Dalit and Lingayat parts which had remained closed since a grisly episode of caste violence in 1993. At different points, Rahul addressed massive rallies where he criticised the State government and accused the Basavaraj Bommai-led government of being “mired in corruption”. Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of the Congress and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar were present together at several venues, even holding hands to put to rest the speculation that they were at loggerheads.

Along with children, paints a panel on the wall of a primary school at Badanavalu village, in Mysuru district.  | Photo Credit: PTI

Speaking to Frontline, Sowmya Reddy, a Congress MLA from Jayanagar, said, “The yatra has rattled the BJP. The yatra has given a fresh dose of enthusiasm to party workers and also to ordinary people who are tired of this corrupt and communal government. The sense that I got during the eight to nine days I spent walking is that the people want Congress back [in 2023].”

Upbeat in Telangana

The sentiment was share in Telangana too, which Rahul entered at Gudebellur on October 23 before taking a Diwali break and rejoining on October 27. Resuming On October 27, he was to be in the State for 12 days. Congress loyalists are rolling in from villages and towns for a glimpse of Rahul because they don’t know when he will be so easily accessible again.

A farmer from byelection-bound Munugode, in his 60s, said, “I have voted for Congress all my life, and I will keep voting for them even if they lose. I will vote here and then go to see Rahul Gandhi.” The farmer credits his loyalty to the support he received under a housing scheme during Congress rule in the 2000s.

People walking along with Rahul and having discussions throughout the day are also hundreds of people who have been mobilised by unions, NGOs, activists, and others from civil society to get an audience with Rahul Gandhi to talk about their long-standing problems.

Manjula, the wife of a tenant farmer who died by suicide, travelled for over three hours to meet Rahul. “I wanted to talk about the lack of compensation when tenant farmers die by suicide.

My husband died in January last year, and I have a debt of over Rs.4 lakh, and I was informed that I was ineligible to get the compensation,” Manjula said. She added that she would vote Congress if it resolved the issues of tenant farmers.

The party has reiterated that this is not an election campaign but a march against the BJP’s hate politics, the collapsing economy, inflation, unemployment, and political centralisation. Unsurprisingly, however, more than provoking the intended discourse, the yatra appears to have garnered support, especially from the younger party cadre. Many are now pinning their hopes on the party’s revival in the Telugu-speaking States.

Rahul Gandhi plays drums with professionals, in Narayanpet district, Telangana, on October 28. | Photo Credit: PTI

“We do not have financial resources; our leaders at all levels keep moving to other parties, and we often don’t get much motivation from senior leaders. Thus, Rahul’s yatra is a welcome move,” said a Congress member from northern Telangana.

Janga Goutham, vice-president of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee and media in charge of the yatra for the State, believes that the Congress can regroup in Andhra Pradesh and gradually regain ground, and that the yatra can serve as a trigger point. Vedma Bhojju Patel Raj Gond, working president of Adilabad District Congress Committee, said the yatra is helping them regain public trust. “There is anger in public against the State and central governments, and the yatra is proving to be a platform to channel it,” he claimed.

However, the major political parties do not see either the Congress or the yatra as a significant force. “The Congress is at a low end right now. They are not able to face the BJP.

People in our country are still struggling for basic needs. And the Congress is not able to set any new agenda on these issues. This yatra might help the Congress reconnect with its cadre, but I am not sure how it will help the country’s people,” said Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, an MLC and chairman of Telangana Rythu Bandhu Samithi.

The responses from civil society groups, activists, and human rights organisations in the two States have ranged from conditional solidarity to non-participation. Nearly a hundred Telangana civil society organisations plan to join in until November 7, when the marchers enter Maharashtra.

“In these days when democratic spaces are shrinking and Hindutva ideology is everywhere, the yatra feels like a spark,” said Sajaya Kakarla from Telangana’s Women and Transgender Organisations Joint Action Committee. “India’s democracy, secularism, equality, fundamental rights, and the Constitution are under threat,” said Kiran Vissa of Raithu Swarajya Vedika, a farmers rights network working in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Some activists such as S.Q. Masood, a Telangana-based RTI activist, find the anti-hate campaign commendable but believe that “a distance between civil society and political parties is necessary for a healthy democracy.” Masood added that responses would have been different had this been “an election, a political front, or had the Congress presented a detailed agenda to work on issues”.

Others, such as the Human Rights Forum (HRF), have refused to participate. “We must be doubtful of Congress’ ideologically inconsistent stand on soft-Hindutva. We have to question the lack of ideological strength in their cadre, given the regular defections to the BJP. Also, the appalling track record of human rights in the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh,” said A. Chandrasekhar, from the coordination committee of the HRF.

Among the younger Congress cadre, some also believe that even though meeting, conversing, extending assurances and a warm embrace might provide an emotional connect with the public, it might remain nonetheless merely a gesture. Beyond the initial rush that has come from Rahul’s walking and offering a sympathetic ear to citizens, it is left to be seen if the party’s senior leadership in these States will act in a tangible manner on the issues touched upon or if this momentum will dissipate soon after the yatra.

Reporting by R.K. Radhakrishnan, Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed, and Ayesha Minhaz

The Crux

• On September 7, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi received the tricolour from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in Kanyakumari and began his Bharat Jodo Yatra.
• From the first day, Rahul has targeted the BJP brand of politics and underlined its potential to destablise India.
• The party members feel the yatra is proving to be a platform to channel the public anger against the State and central governments.
• However, despite popular support for the yatra, observes also doubt the Congress’ ideologically inconsistent stand on soft-Hindutva.