The Jodo Yatra!

Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Indian National Congress, has brushed off the momentary jolt from Ghulam Nabi Azad’s quitting their party. But, of course, he is now used to top leaders leaving, after Kapil Sibal called it a day and went to seek support from Samajwadi Party a couple of months ago. His resurgence graph is cyclic, high, and low, the descender levels often resulting in escaping for a spell of meditation to the Southeast Asian countries, known for their effective hospitality and recuperation.

Be that as it may, Rahul has embarked on a long 150-day Bharat Jodo Yatra, Unify India March, which began yesterday from Kanyakumari, after he paid respects to the statue of his slain father Rajiv in Sriperumbudur. The yatra began from Kanyakumari and will culminate in Jammu sometime in February 2023.

Congress was missing touch with Indian citizens, closeted in mindless succession wars and scheming on ways and means to either protect the Gandhi family from retaining its leadership or finding fault with Modi-Shah. Unlike his father, who was thrust into politics, Rahul had ample time in the formative years to embark on yatras, which he is doing now. Nevertheless, it is never too late to learn a bit about India and its culture.

Will the yatra bring about any radical change in the Indian political canvas like Advani Ji’s Rath Yatra or YSR Reddy’s Andhra march? I must beg to negate that. Advani, the BJP, the VHP and the RSS had a plan for Ram Mandir, which they have achieved by whatever means. Following the Advani’s Rath Yatra, the BJP converted it to their advantage and electoral victories, built by a jingoistic religious nationalism. The Jodo yatra misses such a catchphrase.

The Congress is now weak and is reduced to a secondary ally to many regional parties. The Jodo yatra must have begun in their party, which lies fragmented. The INC has nothing to offer except the failed Gandhis and sycophants like Jairam Ramesh, Digvijay Singh and Baghel. The secrecy in their organizational elections is now being questioned, and contenders to the INC President’s post are ridiculed and humiliated by well-orchestrated Gandhi-loyal gangs.

Yesterday, at the beginning of the march, ‘Brother’ Stalin, the CM of TN, handed over the tricolour at the hands of Rahul. Stalin knows he has nothing to lose and Gandhi nothing to gain either in this gruelling exercise. The march through Kerala will face no hurdles until it crosses Karnataka. After that, however, the entry into Telangana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh before venturing into Rajasthan could be interesting to watch. Five months is too long for any leader to be away from real-time politics and how Rahul and his crafty advisors made him agree to the route is a matter of academic interest.

I am happy that Congress is shrugging off its various deficiencies and attempting to show up as ‘the’ opposition alternative in the wake of manoeuvring by Nitish Kumar and C. Chandrasekar Rao to forge an alliance of the opposition to their advantage. The Bengal tigress is waiting to pounce for her share of their cake as soon as their political strategist gives the go-ahead signal.

While all these, India too marches ahead!

Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix