Bharat Jodo Yatra vs Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra: A tale of two rallies

Fifteen states, 110 districts, 6,700 km, and 66 days — the plan for Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0 or Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is all set for it to take off on January 14.

When the first part, that is, the south-to-north Bharat Jodo Yatra, took off from Kanyakumari on September 7, 2022, it was more or less smooth sailing for the Congress and Rahul Gandhi.

However, this time, the BJP government of the violence-torn Manipur, from where the east-to-west Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is set to begin, did seek to put a spanner in the works by refusing to grant permission for the Hatta Kangjeibung venue in Imphal East from where the rally is supposed to be flagged off.  Later on Wednesday, it approved the venue with the caveat of “limited number of participants”. 

As the Congress prepares for the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to roll out, here is a brief comparison of the two rallies:

Dates

Bharat Jodo Yatra: September 7, 2022 to January 30, 2023

Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (tentative): January 14, 2024 to March 20, 2024

Number of days

Bharat Jodo Yatra: 136

Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (tentative): 66-68

Total distance

Bharat Jodo Yatra: 4080 km

Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (planned): 6713 km

Number of states covered

Bharat Jodo Yatra: 12 (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir)

Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (planned): 15 (Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra)

According to the Bharat Jodo Yatra site, the aim was “to unite India; to come together and strengthen our nation”.

The objective of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, on the other hand, has been attributed to “the need to deliver social, economic, and political justice”.

Timing

When the Bharat Jodo Yatra was kicked off from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, none of the state elections were imminent. The Congress had insisted that it was purely apolitical, and everyone, including the BJP, took it somewhat lightly.

However, the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra comes right ahead of the all-important Lok Sabha elections in April-May before which four states, i.e., Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim, are scheduled to go to polls as well.

Also, no one knew what the Bharat Jodo Yatra could do for Congress's sagging fortunes. But now, it has been tried and tested. The Congress’s decisive win in the crucial Karnataka polls, held in May 2023, a little more than three months after the rally ended, was largely credited to Rahul Gandhi’s mass appeal during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. 

Therefore, the timing of the Bharata Jodo Nyay Yatra is much more crucial, with a clear eye on making the most of Rahul’s mass appeal, seen during the first leg, and hope that it work its charm once again for the second time and earn some dividends in the Lok Sabha polls.

An indication that the Congress is eyeing electoral gains from Yatra 2.0 is that Arunachal Pradesh, which is among the poll-bound states but was not a part of its original route, has now been added to it. A lot more is at stake for the Congress this time.

Branding

The Bharat Jodo Yatra was mostly about creating a brand image for Rahul Gandhi, focusing on public outreach by a party down in the dumps.

This time, the Congress has meticulously rebranded the yatra by emphasising the need for social, economic, and political justice, so that INDIA bloc allies can also join hands on people’s issues and cash in on the public sentiment whipped up in the first leg.

“Everyone is invited to the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. The parties of the INDIA alliance, parties allied with the Congress in different states, and civil society organisations are invited to participate in the yatra,” Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh has been quoted as saying.

Logistics

During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, a permanent group of Congress workers and leaders marched with Rahul Gandhi and the yatris spent the nights in container vans.

However, for the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, there won’t be any such permanent group marching with Rahul Gandhi. Therefore, there will be fewer container vans too.

Also, most of the distance will be covered by bus. As it is evident from the figures, Bharat Jodo Yatra covered 4080 km in 136 days, while Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra proposes to cover 6713 km in a mere 66-68. The idea is to reach more states in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

The yatris are scheduled to walk 8-9 km daily and cover about 80 km by bus. Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to deliver two speeches every day.

Focus on BJP’s fortress — Hindi heartland

The yatris are scheduled to spend the maximum number of days — 11 — in the crucial BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, covering 1,074 km in 20 districts. It is scheduled to pass through some of the most high-profile Lok Sabha constituencies, too — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s seat Varanasi, Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Rae Bareli, and Rahul Gandhi’s former seat Amethi that he lost to Smriti Irani.

Barring that, the yatris are scheduled to spend eight days each in Assam, another BJP-ruled state, and Jharkhand, seven days in Madhya Pradesh, which Congress lost to BJP in 2023, five days each in BJP fortress Gujarat and its alliance-ruled Maharashtra, four days each in Bihar and Odisha, five in West Bengal, and one day in Rajasthan, which was covered in the first leg but remained true to its anti-incumbency tradition and chose BJP over Congress in the polls last year.