By KUSHAL JEENA
The 3,570 Kilometers long nationwide march by Rahul Gandhi has brought a fact to the fore that now time has come for action and the era of the politics of symbolism is over. The widespread and positive response the former Congress President has been receiving since the start of Yatra on September 7 at Kanykumari is all set to upset the applecart of the BJP that has been engaged in politics symbolism.
The long march no doubt will come as a major challenge to the ruling BJP and also can offer substantial political benefits to the Congress, the grand old political party of the country that had played a major and significant role in the country’s freedom for the British colonial rule The biggest event that the Congress party has planned will pave the way or rejuvenation and will also force the opposition parties to come up as a united front of opponent to unseat the right wing Hindu nationalist party ahead of 2024 bound general elections.
If this march continues to maintain its current momentum it would certainly help Rahul to emerge as an undisputed and tall leader in the opposition’s rank and file because currently he is the only politician who has dared to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s India sharply and perceptively. Since the Congress has dedicated this countrywide march to bring the focus of the country’s politics back to the real issues like unemployment, uncontrolled inflation, selling off big public sector undertaking to his close capitalists friends and suspension of civil rights, the move has already given sleepless nights to the BJP and its top brass, who have been trying to divert the attention of the people from core issues
India has been waiting for strong critics of the government ever since Modi came to power riding on the back of communal and religious sentiments of Hindu and after the culmination of the march in Kashmir, Rahul has proved his potential to emerge as strong and serious counter to Modi and his party that has mastered the art of communalized the country and appears confident to return to power by stoking communalism.
The grand old party of the country has to come out clear on its stand on burning issues, the country is currently confronting. Now, time has come when Congress is required to come out and explain the roadmap it has in store for a society that has been wracked by mutual suspicion, by vigilantism, by hatred, by violence, and by lack of effective governance. We need a vision statement.
“The key issue that the leaders of the party must address is what kind of a society we want to live in. Do we want a society in which officials spend their time counting Hindus and Muslims, much like the colonial masters did? Or do we want a society where people can live together as fellow citizens? We have to be wary of what communalism does to us,” said a senior leader from the civil society that has openly been supporting Rahul’s march.
At present, India has to come to terms with the fact that the post-colonial life of the largest democracy in the world was framed in splashes of blood. The Partition should have taught us that break-ups of countries are a tragedy. Violent ruptures between people who should have lived together as fellow citizens are a tragedy of epic proportions.
The people and politicians of the country seem to have misplaced the art of reaching out to people who might speak a different language and worship different gods, but who are quintessentially human like us. Looming like a shadow over the Indian subcontinent is a saga of loss, loss of workplace solidarity, loss of friendships, and loss of love forged despite taboos, loss of the art of compromise, and the anxiety and sorrow that these losses have bred
With the Congress battling for political survival and electoral relevance in the wake of mounting poll debacles for nearly a decade, the 3,570 km padyatra, Congress leaders hope, will bring both redemption and revival for the party. That Rahul is the mascot of the yatra is undeniable. Barring party leaders such as Pawan Khera and Kanhaiya Kumar, the 117 other yatris who will walk alongside Rahul for the entirety of the march – categorized by the party as Bharat Yatris, as opposed to the Atithi Yatris and Pradesh Yatris who will participate in the march for limited stretches – are not prominent faces and a majority of them have been sourced from Congress’ frontal organizations such as the Indian Youth Congress, the Seva Dal and the NSUI.
Buoyed with the huge and positive response the begging ever walkathon in India’s post independence history has been pouring in, the Gandhi scion is required to keep in mind that embarking on yet another discovery of India alone won’t solve the crisis that the Congress faces both within and without. The symbolism of the yatra – one man fighting an ideological battle, often a lonely one as Rahul had himself said when he stepped down from the Congress presidency in 2019 – may bring good publicity to the 52-year-old leader, who the BJP undoubtedly goes to great lengths to discredit.
The Congress has been passing through a very tough time as its electoral footprint is vastly diminished from the days that Rajiv took out his Bharat Yatra of 1990 while even at an organizational level; the party is deeply fractured with even the authority of the Gandhi family currently under challenge.
The exclusion of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh – two states bound for assembly polls later this year and where the Congress is struggling to not just defeat the ruling BJP but also prevent the AAP from usurping its space – from the main route of the Bharat Jodo Yatra has already raised eyebrows within the party units in these states with local leaders murmur that they have left to fend themselves.
Despite being a principal opposition to the BJP, the Congress has more than one occasion failed to convince the electorate that it has not just a cogent narrative to counter one proffered by Modi but also the leadership to lead the country. Some of the party’s existing regional allies see the Congress as a liability. Other regional outfits such as the AAP, TRS or TMC wish to expand their footprint at the cost of the.
The Congress has lost a large part of its caste and community based vote banks while its avowed ideological belief in secularism and plurality resonates far less in an India that has unquestioningly bought into the BJP’s majoritarian politics narrative. And then, as Rahul repeatedly declares at every rally that the BJP has shown no hesitation in using constitutional institutions, central agencies and the media to undermine, intimidate and often vanquish its electoral rivals.
In all likelihood the long walkathon will have its impact on key issue of electing new party president because after the completion of Yatra, Rahul is expected to emerge as an unquestioned leader in the party who decides the next president of the party and this situation will also set Rahul Gandhi’s role in the party in general and within the opposition ranks in particular.