• Dr. Sai Anamika

The much-awaited ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ which began on September 07 under the leadership of Shri Rahul Gandhi, has its own importance for bringing back the memories of the Salt Satyagraha led by Mahatma Gandhi. Shri Rahul Gandhi is the only politician of recent times who has dared to confront the ‘Modi-fied’ India in a scathing and intelligible manner. He has always been telling about the ‘Idea of India’ and what it should be.

Shri Rahul Gandhi is preparing to convey the voice of Congress among the masses through a 150-day long ‘Padyatra’ from Kanyakumari to Kashmir (3,570-km distance approx.), starting from September 7 through ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, which could prove to be the biggest exercise in this public relations campaign. Through this yatra, the Congress party is trying to make it clear as to where, for whom and why does it speak? The Party is also trying to clarify where does it come from and what its ‘Idea of India’ is for a society that is insensitive and infected with mutual suspicion, hatred, violence and mal-governance. Overall, this yatra is a victory statement (Description of Goals) of the Congress party.

It was through the mass movement that India got independence in 1947. Efforts have been made to save India from facing serious crisis only through mass movements. ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ can accelerate the revival of our democratic system. Moreover, it would be a symbol of declaring Shri Rahul Gandhi as a leader with mass appeal contrary to the non-serious kind of false image created by the Godi-media. It will enable him to interact with and understand the problems faced by common people and help him come forward with the possible solutions to those problems.

During the freedom struggle, the Congress provided the political platform to fight for Indian independence. Similarly, this yatra is going to serve as a common platform for civil society groups and individuals to engage with the Congress through a greater cause. More importantly, it is going to pave the way for broader political unity ahead of the general election in 2024.

Unlike that ‘Rath Yatra’ of the nineties, the ‘Bharat Jodo Padyatra’ takes the Congress closer to the people building bridges. The synopsis of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is: ‘Ek tera kadam, ek mera kadam, mil jaye to judjaayesaraawatan’ (If we come forward towards one another a step at a time, the entire nation will get unified.)Apart from this, we can also draw inspiration for this journey from the 385 km long Dandi Yatra undertaken under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi from his Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to Dandi in Navsari, Gujarat; at the end of which Gandhi Ji started the Civil Disobedience Movement by breaking the Salt Law. At that time, the impact of this yatra on the general public had been electrifying just like a shock from lightning, which made them mentally awake and excited. The entire nation seemed ready for the movement at that time.

A few months ago, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of independence, Congress Seva Dal’s chief organizer Lalji Desai started the 1,171 km long ‘Azadi Gaurav Yatra’ from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to Rajghat in New Delhi from April 6, 2022 to June 1, 2022, whose idea was to demonstrate the role of the Congress in achieving independence and its role as the architect of modern India after independence.

Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi had announced the ambitious ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in Udaipur, Rajasthan at the ‘Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir’. The yatra comes as a response to the divisive agenda, the act of posing question marks on other religions and spreading of hatred by the ‘Bhagva brigade’ (saffron brigade i.e. the BJP). The idea of ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is to coordinate with mutually opposing forces and unite them to provide a united and effective opposition to the ruling system in India. In this regard, about 150 Congress Party’s representatives of peoples' movements from 20 states have participated. It is not a political organization operating at the grassroots as non-governmental organizations that have agreed to join hands with the Congress’ ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ public relations programme. This is an important moment in the relationship between a peoples’ movement and a political party in the country.

The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ started under the leadership of the Congress party remains unbiased. The Yatra seeks to strengthen social harmony and core constitutional values, besides focusing on burning issues such as unbearable price rise, unbearable levels of unemployment and the ever-increasing polarization. Notably, more than 150 civil society organizations have come on board, expanding its reach far-and-wide.

There is a huge threat to Indian democracy today and it is a matter of concern that this threat is due to the party claiming to be the largest political party on the basis of membership taken through missed calls on mobile phones. This party and such people, mixing religion with politics, spread division and enmity among themselves for partisan reasons and personal gains.

The Modi era, which began on May 26, 2014, intensified both ideological and communal divisions in India. The line separating the right wing and the left wing became more prominent. Sixty years of Congress and Congress-backed rule kept India united, but under Modi’s leadership, India got disintegrated to the core and became unstable and emotionally divided. A politics of hatred has come to the centre, whose ideology resulted in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. There was a dire need for this effort to unite India through the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, and to bring it to the streets. The yatra is clearly political; but, at its most basic and fundamental level, the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ will unite religiously divided Indians.

Three categories of ‘Padyatris’ will be involved in the ‘Padyatra’. There will be 117 Indians to run the entire length from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. The other 100 will be guest travellers, or travellers from the neighbouring states through which the ‘yatra’ does not pass. Another 100 yatris will be from the states through which the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ will pass. Special talks are being planned to take the burning issues to the grassroots level and create public awareness through public relations programmes. By garnering the support of unemployed youth, farmers and workers across the country, it will pave the way for the revival of people’s issues and set a new political agenda for the masses, which will be different from the current religion and caste-based politics. Today, the ‘idea of India and Indian democracy’ is in a state of deepening existential crisis. The ‘idea of India’ is being threatened by a Hindu Rashtra and Indian democracy is threatened by elected autocracy and one-party rule. This threat has emerged after the right-wing forces seized political power in India. The centrist forces are lamenting at the turning point of this incident in the country. It is these people who keep a close watch on India’s political developments, they want to meet their political ends on the pretext of talking about averting the looming calamity and the threat it poses to the country’s freedom and democratic structure.

As many might agree, India is facing an extraordinary challenge that requires an extraordinary approach to deal with the situation. The alignment of grassroots groups with a political party can be an effective democratic deterrent to attacks on democratic institutions and India’s constitutional values. The challenges facing the country have encouraged these grassroots groups to associate with mainstream opposition political parties such as the Congress to provide effective resistance to the undemocratic forces in India. Joining of such a large number of mass movement organizations is an important step. India definitely needs such a medium for change. People’s participation is very important to shape the future of India. Such intervention is indispensable keeping in mind the general elections to the Lok Sabha to be held in 2024. We sincerely hope that this ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ will yield greatly positive results.

(The Author is a Secretary in All-India Mahila Congress)