image source, RAHUL GANDHI/FB
Rahul Gandhi is currently in Rajasthan. After completing 100 days of Yatra, Rahul Gandhi also met the media on Friday.
Singer Sunithi Selahan attended the event.
Himachal Pradesh’s new Congress Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sugu will join all his MLAs in Jaipur on the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatrai’ (India Connect Walk).
Rahul Gandhi started this walk on September 7 from Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu.
Crossing several states and currently in Rajasthan, he will travel around 3750 km and probably reach Kashmir in February to complete the journey.
People from different sections of the society are participating in this journey of Rahul Gandhi.
Swara Bhaskar, Pooja Bhatt, Riya Sen and Anand Patvardhan joined the cast from the film industry. Social activist Aruna Roy and mother of Rohit Vemula in Telangana participated in this.
Shiv Sena’s Aditya Thackeray and Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi were also present. Many people from the world of sports have also joined this pilgrimage.
Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra also accompanied Rahul Gandhi. Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has been the most talked about participant in this trip so far.
Rajan attended the Yatra in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur on Wednesday. After this, the two discussed all matters related to the economy, including economic inequality. The BJP has criticized the meeting.
image source, BHARAT JODO/ FB
Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan with Rahul Gandhi
BJP’s reaction
“Country lost 10 years under erstwhile RBI governor. Thanks to Modi, India will not repeat this mistake,” tweeted BJP’s External Affairs Minister Vijay Southaiwale.
BJP has been condemning this Yatra since its inception.
BJP president JP Natta addressed party workers in Telangana on Thursday. Then he attacked Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatrai’ and said that this is ‘Bharat Dodo Yatrai’ (a pilgrimage that will break India).
“Rahul Gandhi’s forefathers spared no effort to break India. So this is a pilgrimage of atonement,” said Natta.
On the one hand BJP is calling it ‘Bharat Dodo Yatrai’ but people from different walks of life are also joining it.
In this situation, how to assess Rahul Gandhi’s journey so far is a big challenge.
During this period, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, MCT elections in Delhi, one Lok Sabha constituency and by-elections to six assembly constituencies in five states were also held.
Congress suffered its worst defeat at the same time as BJP recorded its biggest win in Gujarat.
Congress formed the government in Himachal Pradesh. However, it suffered a crushing defeat in the municipal elections in Delhi.
Congress won Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh by-elections.
image source, BHARAT JODO/ FB
Many film celebrities like Amol Palekar also participated in Rahul Gandhi’s walk.
Purpose of Bharat Jodo Yatra
But should we link these election results and Rahul Gandhi’s walk? Congress media in-charge Jairam Ramesh gave the answer to the media on Thursday.
He said that ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is not an ‘election victory’ or ‘election win’ yatra.
He mentioned that one of the objectives of the Yatra was to strengthen and revitalize the Congress organization.
Economic inequality has increased due to Modi government’s objectives and policies. Social polarization has increased. Jairam Ramesh said that political dictatorship has become a reality.
“The real purpose of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is to connect with the people of India on these three issues and tell people about it.
If this yatra is to be judged on the criteria decided by the Congress itself, the question arises as to what has Rahul Gandhi gained and what has lost so far from this yatra.
”I was confused as to what the purpose of this pilgrimage was. Rahul Gandhi is neither a philosopher nor a religious leader. “Rahul Gandhi is a consummate politician, so he cannot be separated from politics,” noted journalist Radhika Ramashan said.
”It is evident that people connect with Rahul Gandhi during the Yatra. But it is difficult to determine what it has achieved politically,” he added.
Bharat Jodo Yatra
• Started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on 7th September
• So far passes through Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh
• Currently this Congress Yatra is passing through Rajasthan.
• Plan to pass through Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
• Many celebrities joined this walk.
•The trip will probably end in February
image source, BHARAT JODO/ FB
Actor Sushant Singh joined Rahul Gandhi in this yatra
How much the Congress organization became strong
Talking about the Congress organization, Radhika Ramashan noted that in many states the Congress organization is still there, in some places it is weak and in some places it is completely gone.
The effect was evident in Karnataka, he says. There Siddaramaiah and D.K. Sivakumar and the two teams worked together to make Rahul Gandhi’s trip a success.
“Congress has become a minor party behind Shiv Sena and NCP in Maharashtra. “Even so, the Congress organization became stronger during Rahul Gandhi’s visit,” he added.
Referring to Rajasthan, Radhika said, “Despite the differences between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, this organization played an important role in mobilizing the crowd.”
He noted that the real test of how strong the Congress organization has become will be next year’s assembly elections. 13 states including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan will hold assembly elections before the 2024 general elections.
Economic disparity is a serious problem, Radhika Ramashan said. It was a problem among the people during the Gujarat elections. But he said it did not show any effect on the election results.
Inflation and unemployment are major problems among the general public. He mentioned that if Rahul Gandhi continues to raise his voice on this issue, the Congress party may get a political advantage in the 2024 general elections.
It is true that social polarization has increased over the past few years. But Radhika Ramashan feels that the BJP has been very successful in this regard and Rahul Gandhi’s talk is his weak point and it has not affected the people.
Congress’s attempt to surround Narendra Modi on the issue of ‘political dictatorship’ has also not been very successful.
“Narendra Modi’s popularity is at its peak even today. Dictatorship is not on people’s minds. Modi did not impose Emergency, so people say where did dictatorship come from,” says Radhika Ramashan.
2024 general election is the target
Asim Ali, a veteran journalist and now associated with the Delhi-based think tank Center for Policy Research (CPR), feels that the main objective of the yatra is to project a different ideology to the public, as opposed to that of the BJP.
He says that the Congress has overcome its ideological crisis with this yatra and it is completely opposed to the BJP and the RSS.
Renowned political scientist Prof. Zoya Haasan has written an article in the Tribune. In it, he said that the Bharat Jodo Yatra was the first serious attempt to create a healthy dialogue against majoritarianism, social division and intolerance in politics.
“Until now, ideology is talked about only during elections. And the Congress has to respond to the ideological issues (like love jihad and cow slaughter) posed by the BJP. And BJP is winning in them,” Asim Ali added.
The credibility of the media and other institutions has been completely destroyed. So Rahul Gandhi is trying to convey to the people that he has come to directly communicate with the people, he says. He says that Rahul Gandhi is not worried about any state election and his full focus is on 2024 elections.
But the Congress says that this yatra has nothing to do with the elections. Asim Ali responded, “This is what was said during Aam Aadmi Party’s ‘India Against Corruption’ (2011-12) or YSR’s Yatra in Andhra Pradesh. But everyone knows that this is completely a political pilgrimage,” he said.
Impact on Rahul Gandhi’s image
Responding to the question of what benefits Rahul Gandhi or the Congress will gain from this trip, Asim Ali says that there has been a huge impact on Rahul Gandhi’s personal image.
Asim Ali cited comedian Kunal Kamra as an example for this. “Kamra had earlier mocked Rahul Gandhi. But the fact that Kunal Kamra went on the yatra is a sign of a change in the thinking of a section of the civil society who considered the BJP and the Congress to be one and the same,” he noted. The media now talks very little about Rahul Gandhi, he says, which is a success for Rahul Gandhi. Because earlier the media spoke negatively about Rahul Gandhi.
Asim Ali feels that the look that comes out through this journey conveys a message at large.
Rahul Gandhi’s message is very clear. It shows him standing with the unemployed, youth, Dalits, tribals, poor, farmers and Muslims and trying to map out a linear ideology for the 2024 elections.
“Rahul Gandhi is trying to convince people that India’s select few business houses are getting all the benefits during the Modi regime and the rest of the society is being cheated.
He says that Rahul Gandhi is trying to send a message through this trip that he opposes the Modi government and a few business houses and stands with the people who are suffering from them. Asim Ali points out that Rahul Gandhi’s yatra has made it clear what the Congress will be campaigning for in the 2024 elections.
image source, BHARAT JODO/ FB
Famous filmmaker Anand Patvardhan with Rahul Gandhi on Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Media view on Bharat Jodo
Rahul Gandhi has not been able to get much success in conveying his message to the people as the media has very little coverage of his visit.
With less coverage in the mainstream media, the Congress is dependent on social media to promote the Yatra.
49 percent of people in India get news from TV channels and 10 percent read news from newspapers. Citing a 2019 CSDS survey, Asim Ali says that only three percent of people get news through social media.
But it is true that the number of social media users is increasing day by day and mobile internet usage among Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims is also a good news for Congress especially Rahul Gandhi.
Yet all political analysts agree that an accurate assessment of how successful Rahul Gandhi is in his Bharat Jodo Yatra can only be determined from the election results.
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