Akansha Topno

New Delhi, Jan 14: 2022 was a big challenge and India has been a part of many controversies, scandals and movements. The Indian National Congress and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) continued to show their competitiveness to each other. The latest move by Indian National Congress is the mass movement Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Indian National Congress started the mass movement Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. It’s an ongoing mass movement which started from Kanyakumari and will end in Jammu and Kahmir. It will be walked by general public and will be completed in 150 days. Many have joined the crowd in order to show their support. Bharat Jodo Yatra has stirred the blood in the country but it has also drawn out both negative and positive news. Yet, the ultimate question that remains unanswered is whether the yatra would help Congress to recover its lost political ground and its past glory.

Unite India March

When one thinks about this rally, the first question that comes to mind is why did Rahul Gandhi suddenly start this rally with his party.

Congress said this movement is started to Unite the country against “divisive politics” of BJP. Its main aim is to fight against the politics of “fear, bigotry and prejudice” and the economics of livelihood destruction, increasing unemployment and growing inequalities.

Bharat Jodo Yatra seeks to give out a strong message of India being divided under the Narendra Modi regime into Hindu and Muslim which must immediately be bound back together under a more broad-based, inclusive, socio-cultural idea of India.

Karnataka unit of Congress was accused of using children as tools

Within 50 days of Yatra, the yatra caught itself into a controversy. On the 37th day of the Yatra, the march was ended near Halakundi village where a large number of people, including troupes of dancers and percussionists, welcomed Gandhi. A group of six primary school boys performed ‘tamate’, a percussion instrument, allegedly on the promise that they will get Rs. 500 for their performance.

The Karnataka unit of Congress denied the accusation and said there were no such promises made. However, oppositions did not spare the party for this trick.

Bharat Jodo Yatra arrided in Delhi and talk with the public

On 24th December 2022 the yatra arrived from Haryana. As many joined the crowd, Rahul Gandhi stood in front of Red Fort, gave his speech and talked with audience. He asked questions to the audience as well as responded to them. He also talked about many other important things. When he was giving his speech, Rahul Gandhi did not forget to talk about his competing party BJP. He said BJP is spreading hatred between Hindu and Muslim and diverting the minds of people from real issues. He also added that “this is not PM Modi’s, but Ambani and Adani’s government”.

Gandhi will begin the second phase of the Yatra from Delhi from a Hanuman temple after 9 days of break so that the containers can be repaired and prepared for the harsh winter in the north. Also, many Indian participants returned to their families after about 4 months. The yatra had been going on for past 4 months. The Yatra resumed from January 4th, 2023.

Kamal Hassan, Raghuram Rajan and many more showed supports to the yatra
The Congress has been trying to unite likeminded people from various walks. Apart from common public, many personalities joined the yatra voluntarily to show their support.

Kamal Hussan joined the yatra in the afternoon of 24th December from ITO. During his speech in the Red Fort, Kamal Hassan said “I am here as an Indian. My father was a Congressman. I have had various ideologies and started my own political party but when it comes to the country, all party lines have to blur. I blurred that line and came here.”

Priyanka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi also joined the yatra in the morning of 24th December.
As people were amazed by the amount of known personality joining the yatra it also showed some disagreement between public. Since Raghuram Rajan joined the Yatra, it also stirred a controversy whether an economist like Rajan can take part in political rallies.

Raghuram Rajan, the former RBI Governor, joined the yatra in Rajasthan on December 14, 2022. He said he did not take part in Yatra as a former servant or an economist but as a ‘concerned citizen’. Rajan said it was to support those who were “walking the length of India to strengthen national unity and communal harmony”.

This is the not the first time that Rajan became a topic of interest for prime-time newsroom debates and newspaper columns. The ruling party and some segments of media did not take the top economist’s presence at the yatra lightly. Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) IT cell chief Amit Malviya even termed it a “coloured and opportunistic” involvement.

Will the Congress succeed?
In 1885, Indian National Congress was founded in Bombay. It was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. The question is whether Rahul Gandhi will succeed as a leader of Congress when his rally ends in 2023. Will he succeed in giving out the message of the rally?

As majority of people have already accepted the idea of Hindu nation and Hindutva coated nationalism, will this rally be able to change people and their thinking?

The Yatra has spoken about many issues. While Rahul’s journey has seen him going to temples, other religious places, particularly mosques and churches have been avoided. In order to achieve his goal of ‘Bharat Jodo’, Rahul Gandhi must first bring his party to the pole position in Indian politics.