The BJP, as a political party, is many bad things in one, but it is not stupid. And right now its canny instinct is telling it that Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra is not good news for 2024 or the coming state elections. The party's discomfiture and subdued sense of alarm has been evident in the desperate attempts to reduce the padyatra to Tee shirts, containers, shoes, and to mock it as Bharat Toro or Congress Jodo yatra. But the mockery and lampooning is not working this time, at least not over the one week that the procession has travelled so far in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This is what is confounding the BJP and explains its desperation.
The BJP has invested a lot of time and hundreds of crores over the last eight years to caricature Rahul Gandhi as a Pappu, a fumbling idiot, a part time politician, given to gaffes, incapable of the 24x7 exertion required in politics, an entitled dynast. It has been getting votes from this deliberately created falsehood, whereas the real fiction lies in the hyped up persona of none other than Mr. Modi himself. The Pappu was used to hide the fact that the emperor had no clothes, only his Mont Blanc pen, his Bvlgari dark glasses and Movado watches.
But Rahul Gandhi had no way to counter or dispel this viciously manufactured image of himself, because the BJP had also bought over practically the entire print and television media. In effect, he has been left with no effective channel of communication with the people. He can neither explain his policies to them, nor show that he is a quite different person from what the saffron party has painted him to be.
A lesser man would have given up, like the Mayawatis, the Navin Patnaiks, the Jagan Reddys and the Naidus. But Rahul Gandhi has decided instead to leap frog back into the past and draw on one of India's most potent weapons of struggle- the padyatra or foot march. It was used with great effect by Gandhi, in the sixties by Vinoba Bhave for his Bhudan movement, and in the more recent past by Chandrashekhar and Jaiprakash Narayan. India- and, ironically, Hinduism itself- has always had great reverence for the padyatra, for it symbolises sacrifice, repentance, renunciation and austerity. It is associated with pilgrimages, holy men, non violent struggle against oppression. The Bharat Jodo Yatra is therefore drawing on hundreds of years of hoary tradition, memories of the freedom struggle, even one of the essential elements of Hinduism. No wonder the BJP is worried !- it has been hoist on its own petard, in a way.
The Emperor is never without his royal plumage and trappings, he is afraid of being seen without them and keeps a distance from the people, visible only on distant stages, LCD screens and holograms, the distance bridged by TV cameras, teleprompters and trucked in supporters. In his new avatar he can never do what Rahul Gandhi is now doing through his Yatra- exposing himself to the crowds one on one, rubbing shoulders with the ordinary citizen, touching skin, tying a little girl's sandals, dancing with tribal women. What perhaps has the BJP worried is that the Yatra will highlight in sharp contrast the difference between the Emperor and Rahul Gandhi. The voters will get to see for themselves Gandhi's innate qualities which the darbari media has so far obscured- his basic decency and sincerity, the lack of any posturing or pretensions, his compassion, the non-oratorical conversations, his accessibility, the moral core which, paradoxically, makes him unfit for the Machiavellian politics of today.
This, I feel, is the real message which the Bharat Jodo Yatra seeks to convey; the problems of inflation, unemployment, cronyism, Chinese intrusion, social discord will of course follow and will now sound more plausible to the people. And the strategy appears to be succeeding. It is being reported that 50000-70000 people are participating in the Yatra everyday, and the numbers keep going up everyday. At this rate, over 150 days, Rahul Gandhi will be able to personally connect with about 60 to 70 million people, a prospect that should take the BJP (and some obdurate, short-sighted Opposition leaders too) back to the drawing board.
And I have no doubt that the midnight oil is being burnt in the BJP's war rooms to prepare a toolkit to counter the Yatra and disrupt it or at least to put the brakes on its momentum. Troglodytes like Sambit Patra and congenital dissimulators like Smriti Irani are already on the job. This tool kit will contain both legal and extra legal machinations, including denial of police permission for the march, imposition of Sec. 144 CRPC, concocted security threats, instigated violence, organised counter protests. A couple of old cases (National Herald?) may be reopened so that Rahul Gandhi could be summoned again to Delhi and forced to leave the march. The process has already begun, with the NCPCR (National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights) issuing a notice to the Congress for "using" children in the march!
The real test for Rahul Gandhi and his team will come when he enters BJP ruled states like Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra, Haryana and UP. It will be a two fold test: gauging the people's support, and the BJP's unscrupulousness. The latter will be in direct proportion to the former- the more the popular support, the more desperate the measures which will be adopted by the state administrations. The opposition will not be from the BJP alone- other "Opposition" leaders with egos larger than their vote shares will not welcome Rahul Gandhi upstaging them before 2024, and will try their utmost to revile and undermine the Yatra. The opening salvos have already been fired by Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee. And then there are the opportunistic weevils within the Congress itself, the likes of Azad, Anand Sharma and Manish Tiwari playing their own one-upmanship games. The Congress is on the cusp of a watershed moment, and should not be provoked into reckless responses. It should be restrained, not respond in kind, like the forgettable "khaki nickers on fire" tweet. It should never take its eyes off the central and visceral message of the Yatra.
What is this message, people ask, some derisively ? I think it was best answered by Rahul Gandhi himself when a journalist asked him this question:
" The message of the Bharat Jodo Yatra is humility, compassion and respect for people. We are not abusing anybody, not threatening anybody. We are walking with humility."
I feel that was very well put. More than anything else, India needs a healing touch. It needs a compassionate leader, not an Ozymandias. This, I believe, is the message of the long walk. Rahul Gandhi is the messenger AND the message.
It remains to be seen whether, 150 days from now, Rahul Gandhi's trust in himself and the people of India will be vindicated or not. But, whatever the outcome electorally, this reviled "dynast" is doing what no other politician in the country today has the guts to do: step out among the people, sans any filters or trappings, and live WITH them for five months. He stands head and shoulders above his peers in his unrelenting opposition to the Supreme Leader and his cohorts, and in his refusal to compromise with his core beliefs. Five months from now, I don't think Rahul Gandhi will have anything left to prove: it will be the citizens of India who will have to prove themselves, and where they stand.
Hard hitting the nail on the head piece of writing as always. Just one factual correction. Kejriwal has welcomed the yatra with the words, all should do it.
ReplyDeleteNot really, rain. Watch that clip again: its loaded with sarcasm and derision, he's mocking the Yatra, not commending it. Which is proved by the fact that he has launched his own yatra the same day. It's a different matter that it is not getting any coverage.
DeleteWhat a spot-on analysis.
ReplyDeleteWhatever his faults, and who amongst humans does not have any, this fellow has the guts to stand up to, field and directly respond to questions. So very unlike the Mr 56" who cringes if he is asked anything more important than how he likes to eat his mango.
It has been long overdue that someone show some guts and convey to the lumpen element that they can go suck an egg. The country needs to come back to even keel.
More power to Rahul Gandhi and, in fact, to anyone else willing to face up to the bully. You Mr Shukla included.
Excellent Away and you have hit the nail on the head, Desperation of the present dispensation is already visible to discerning persons!
ReplyDeleteThe message of the Bharat Jodo Yatra is humility, compassion and respect for people. We are not abusing anybody, not threatening anybody. We are walking with humility."
ReplyDeleteIf only the Congress leaders of the states stopped shouting in chorus that Rahulji should be the president of their party ! The more they become vociferous with this demand, the more the BJP will propagate that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is after all a plan to boost Rahul's image and disarm his critics within the Congress party - so that at the end Rahul Gandhi alone will dictate the party's policies, even if someone from outside the Gandhi family is elected its president after the coming election. Rahul's well-meaning objectives behind the Yatra are being frustrated by his own party men, the PCC leaders who by their sycophancy are providing the BJP with fuel to denigrate him.
ReplyDeleteThe interstate walk, while ostensibly a movement at unifying the nation torn by hate and disharmony, appears to be an attempt at restructuring the Congress edifice, particularly the image of Rahul Gandhi. This is where the walk is in danger of losing direction.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, the man is essentially not interested in active politics the way it is played out in India. Not for him the Machiavellian plotting of the downfall of opponents or their personal destruction. He has just not inherited the political ruthlessness of his grandmother or the acumen of his great grandfather. Here is a benign gentleman who believes in living with peace and enabling others the same. This immediately and at the outset makes him a misfit to lead a pan-Indian political party, much less the grand old party of India.
Then comes the insularity of the Congressmen (and women) who persist with conflating the person with the party. Rahul Gandhi is not the Congress anymore than Indira was India (or India was Indira). This nauseating dictum was principal in routing the Congress back in the 70s, and is repeating itself now with the blinkered party members refusing to budge from their stance. 23 Congressmen attempted to re-look the party leadership, but were promptly stifled, scuttled and stymied by the rest. We are consequently witnessing a dishevelled, disorganised party creaking at all corners, with its prime protagonist utterly indifferent to the state of disrepair.
Finally Rahul Gandhi the individual. Avay Shukla writes fittingly of his honesty and genuineness through this blog and a previous one. It is imperative to connect with the people and do the simple, everyday things with them, so full marks there. This however, will not suffice by itself to survive the tumult of politics. The BJP has indeed done all that Mr. Shukla writes and much more to denigrate Rahul Gandhi and portray him an imbecile. But the man has only assisted them in their mischief. Such gaffes have not been created by the BJP and attributed to him; it has only highlighted them to its advantage. Rahul Gandhi is not a helpless human devoid of resources to be unable to put his views and rebuttals across. Rather, he has dented the Congress with his needless and obtuse projections time and again to steer it to its current moribund state.
Lastly, the Bharat Jodo Yatra itself. The value of a walkathon in the context of Indian politics cannot be underscored and Avay Shukla highlights its worth to precision, drawing upon the cultural ethos and historical precedents of Padyatras. In the case of the current Yatra, the message - as conveyed by the messenger - is a soothing one to listen to, but does little beyond that. A walk covering the length of the country must have a more focussed intent beyond blanket humility, compassion and respect for the people. This regime has inserted a wedge along religious lines; a walk to unite bruised hearts and battered minds may perhaps have struck a better chord. Town hall discussions, student interactions, visits to religiously divided mohallas to assuage the hurt, cogent messaging of the Congress and its future (if there is one), will derive better mileage than smiling highway processions. The sense one gets is that the Yatra is more of a fun event for the people who greet it than a caravan full of meaning and messaging. The incohesion within the Congress as the Yatra proceeds is all too apparent, with party members on their own trajectory. A major event like this needs every party person to resonate with it and in unison that should be visible. It seems to be missing and hence the optics are befuddling. There are many more days to go, so one is hopeful of a better and more concerted thrust.
I am being cynical as I oppose Avay Shukla but Rahul Gandhi has given me reason to be so. I hope that this will be his long walk to vindication and not a farewell walk of valediction.
Very well documented facts and propaganda of BJP. The fake narrative made by the ruling party requires to be exposed. Salute to you sir.
ReplyDeleteRahul Gandhi with all the optics of Bharat Jodo Yatra may not prove enough to shake up the Modi empire, given that the politics of hate is firmly entrenched in the governing outfit.
ReplyDeleteAnd Rahul is no Mahatma Gandhi, whose Yatra did shake up the British empire.
Nor is he smart enough to out manoeuvre the Machiavellian regime that stays ahead. In fact Rahul has proved to be the greatest asset for BJP.
Lest an alternative leadership emerges to challenge Modi-Shah, the BJP trolls bring Rahul into focus, subtly conveying ‘There Is No Alternative’ (TINA) to Modi
Whenever the voter seriously looks for an alternative and finds an indecisive Rahul at the far end, the choice gets to ‘if you can’t beat them, might as well join them.”
Hordes of Congressmen and Congresswomen have moved into BJP. Perhaps BJP today has more turncoat Congress members than the ones who founded the party.
The connect in Bharat Jodo may be there, but when it comes to electoral connect - the Congress under Rahul and Priyanka have yet to deliver on power play.
In the UPA Government, under Manmohan Singh when the Gandhi’s were all powerful, Rahul was offered an opportunity to prove his mettle by taking up a position of responsibility in the government but he picked the back drivers seat and choose to rule without accountability.
Indeed his opposition to Modi is persistent and strong, unlike other opposition leaders. He is well meaning person and a gentleman.
But unless the Congress is democratically rebuilt with stronger ground leaders and not just with a personality cult, Rahul Bharat Jodo Yatra could end up in Tagore’s poem, “If they answer not your call, walk alone, walk alone, walk alone.
The issue is about desecration of a nation.
ReplyDeleteIt is completely unacceptable on our part to say, "there is no alternative" and abdicate further responsibility. There are at least 10 others who are each worth twice those we have been mealy mouthing about. Especially since the 2019 elections. So "TINA" is rubbish.
Democracy cannot turn a blind eye to the desecration of the Constitution which protects the people of the country. It is not a debate. It's our most important fail-safe.
Brutal assassinations, murderous attacks on truths; the attempt to brazenly demolish ethnic values and diversity; to defile the past and indiscriminately promote corruption are unforgivable of any elected governemnt. What is true of an individual must severally apply to those entrusted to lead. Constitutional crimes must be dealt with as treason.
It is no arguement that there has been some good work done. Some good work done is a given for any government. That's the least of a specious point of view. The fact is, in keeping with the advocacy for evil to prevail is the obverse: that for evil to be eradicated it must be seen. And since that's about all we have been given to see these many years, we must now exercise our choice of intent. Not merely in terms of elections but as a fantastic opportunity to bring about changes that will render sovereignty inviolable. That mere numbers and majority-minority posturing will not be allowed to hold India to ransom. The issue is about desecration. And about Freedom.
All that Kabir Mustafi writes of is sacrosanct. But the blog owner suggests that the route to emancipation is his protagonist's walkathon. That the apostle has rolled the dice and it is now for the Plebians to follow in his wake. This is principally the point of scepticism. The man in reference is but a casual stroller on the political arena. His demeanour does not and can never inspire the people to uphold all that Kabir Mustafi elucidates, because that requires tenacity and perseverance to far higher levels. Let Johnny walk on...
ReplyDelete