'Boy from Gandhi family' whizzes past Gujarat, leaving his followers miffed

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who has been traversing the country, first from South to North, and then from East to West, via his Bharat Jodo Yatras, finally hit Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, last week.

His Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered Gujarat on March 7 at Jhalod taluka in Dahod district.

Jhalod is an important location in the history of tribal politics in Gujarat. Even before becoming the Chief Minister of Gujarat, when Modi was an RSS pracharak, he chose Kamboi village in Jhalod as his centre and lived there for a year. From there, he worked in the tribal belt of south Gujarat at a time when the tribals were mostly loyal voters of the Congress.

Jhalod matters

“Congress needed to spend more time in Jhalod," said Romel Sutariya, a tribal rights activist and a political worker in this tribal belt. "When BJP decided to get its roots into the tribal belt, it started from Jhalod. In this belt, the senior citizens of almost every household have a story to tell of their encounter with Narendra Modi. At some house he ate dinner while in another he spent a night as a pracharak."

"Most tribals here, in fact, know two factors when it comes to politics – Modi and Modi ki party (Modi’s party), and the hand symbol of Congress," Sutariya told The Federal. “Rahul Gandhi had an opportunity to make his own stories with the local tribals. Instead, he left them waiting and passed through the district way too fast.”

As the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered Gujarat, hundreds of Congress workers had gathered to welcome Rahul with enthusiasm, even though battered over a series of defections of MLAs to the BJP in the past few days.

Many local tribals had also gathered, some of whom just waited for a glimpse of Rahul.

‘Boy from Gandhi family’

Induben, an 87-year-old woman, was one amongst the crowd that waited for Rahul to enter Gujarat from Rajasthan. She waited for a glimpse of the “boy from Gandhi family”. Like many remote villages in this tribal-dominated South Gujarat region, Induben recognises only the Congress' hand symbol and remembers only former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

After waiting for three hours, Induben was left disgruntled as she could not give Rahul the gamcha (a local towel that is part of tribal male attire) she had brought along with her.

“I couldn’t get through the security,” she said. Then she sought some clarification: “Is he her (Indira’s) son or grandson?”

Induben said she would always remember the sukhadi (a local sweet) that they got because of Maa (Indira Gandhi), referring to the subsidised food scheme launched under the Indira Gandhi regime.

Many left disappointed

Induben was not the only one. Rahul Gandhi left many Congress workers disappointed, too, at Jhalod. He held just a short meeting where leaders of AAP and Congress welcomed him on stage. He then retired for the day at around 6 pm in his luxury tent that his team set up.

“He might have spent only about 30 minutes amidst the people in Jhalod before he went to his tent, only to be seen at 8 am the next morning as we left for our next destination – Godhra in Panchmahal district,” said Saileshbhai Vasava, a local Congress worker of Dahod.

Another group of Congress workers said they expected Rahul to visit Guru Govind’s Samadhi at Mangarh Dham in Rajasthan that borders Gujarat’s tribal belt.

“We had suggested to our district leaders that Rahulji should visit Mangadh Dham. It would have had an impact on the tribals of Gujarat as well. But our suggestion was not taken, it seems,” said another worker of Congress’s Dahod unit on the condition of anonymity.

In Gujarat, preparations for the Yatra are being overseen by senior Congress leaders like GPCC Chief Shaktisinh Gohil, Mukul Wasnik, Jagdish Thakor, and Madhusudan Mistry.

Party workers said they had been asked to ensure the morale didn't show a dip despite the defections. However, that was easier said than done.

“Just a day before he resigned from the party, Arjun Modhwadia was in Godhra, the second halt for Rahul Gandhi in the Gujarat leg of the yatra. He was in the team with Shaktisinh Gohil for the preparations for the yatra. His desertion has impacted the workers the most,” said Lalit Vasoya, a former Congress MLA in the Saurashtra region.

In Godhra, Panchmahal district, Congress leaders and workers from the neighbouring district of Ahmedabad waited as the yatra was running late by more than two hours.

Among the leaders waiting at the Godhra city crossroad for Rahul Gandhi were Imran Khedawala and Gyasuddin Sheikh, Congress’s MLAs from Ahmedabad.

No public meetings in 3 districts

However, Rahul passed through Godhra without holding a meeting there. He went on to the next district, Narmada, one of the poorest districts of Gujarat that boasts the costliest tourism project of the state – The Statue of Unity.

Noticeably, during days two and three of the yatra, Rahul crossed three districts without holding any public meeting.

“He seems to be in haste. He waved from his car and did not get down from his car to meet people,” said Lalsinh Rathwa, a resident of Rajpipla, the district headquarters of the tribal-dominated Narmada district.

“My forefathers have always voted for the Congress but now people also vote for a candidate from Saheb’s (Narendra Modi) party,” 58-year-old Lalsinh Rathwa told The Federal.

Tribals affected by Statue of Unity project

“There have been a lot of issues for the past three years here since the project began (Statue of Unity). A lot of tribal families lost their land and homes as the government acquired land for the project. For the first two years, there was a lot of anger and protests. But the protests had no support from any political party. Now everyone has surrendered to their fate,” added Rathwa.

On the third day of the yatra, Rahul Gandhi made an unscheduled stop at Kunvarpara in Narmada district. In a make-shift tent room, around 50 members of the civil society of Gujarat were called to meet him. The same day, Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh also joined the yatra to meet the activists.

Noticeably, apart from the current GPCC chief Shaktisinh Gohil and former GPCC Chief Amit Chavda, no one else from Gujarat Congress was allowed to be present in the meeting.

Rahul meets activists but not party workers

“Most of these activists have no connect with the masses of Gujarat yet Rahul Gandhi is meeting them and not party workers,” rued Janakbhai Parmar, a Congress spokesperson for Central Gujarat.

“I joined the yatra yesterday (day 2) and I have been waiting to have a word with him. Our senior leaders from Gujarat have told us that he (Rahul) has a tight schedule this time,” Parmar told The Federal while waiting in a tent for Rahul.

Along with Parmar, Sukhram Rathwa, a four-time Congress tribal MLA from Pavi Jetpur (Chota Udepur), Jignesh Mevani, a two-time Congress MLA from Vadgam (Banaskantha), and Hitendra Pithariya, the party’s SC Cell president, other leaders, and about a hundred workers waited for their chance to meet Rahul.

However, Rahul left for Netrang, Bharuch to attend a joint meeting with AAP MLA Chaiter Vasava.

“This is Congress repeating its classic mistake of relying more on activists than its party workers,” said Romel Sutariya, who wasone of the activists to attend the meeting.

On the fourth and the last day of Rahul’s time in Gujarat, the yatra gained a huge momentum in Vyara, Tapi district, where the Congress MP made his last stop for a speech before he entered Maharashtra.

“Caste census is a revolutionary step that will ensure everyone’s participation in India's wealth and institutions. We promise to remove the 50 percent cap on reservations in educational admissions and government jobs,” said Rahul as he began his speech to a huge reception at Vyara.

“The BJP government has taken away water, forest, and land of which tribals are rightful owners. Let’s get that back first and then we can delve into real politics,” said Rahul as he dramatically called two tribal farmers to stand with him atop the open jeep.

“Are you with me?” asked Rahul, as the crowd cheered. He turned towards the farmers standing by his side, “Are you with me?” he asked them.

Both of them nodded as Rahul hugged them. The crowd cheered as he moved on towards Maharashtra.

All photographs were taken by Damayantee Dhar.