Bharat Jodo Yatra: Rahul is walking into India’s hinterlands and hearts

On a rain drenched morning this week I left my home to do what I hadn’t done in a while – check out the pulse of a political rally. As they say, once a journalist, always a journalist. And what better invitation or calling could be there than to hit ground zero to witness for myself what the Bharat Jodo Yatra, launched by Rahul Gandhi, was actually achieving or not achieving.

Frenzy over rendezvous with Rahul

Although the media has been largely ignoring the yatra from the time it started in Kanyakumari, moved through Kerala and entered Karnataka, there was an excitement that had been building among citizenry, some of whom were not even necessarily Congress supporters. The yatra bug had bitten them and they wanted to go check out the procession for themselves. Intellectuals, academics, activists, students and even the glitterati had written it into their diaries and made it a point to try and join the yatra at different segments from different parts of the country and states that Rahul was walking through. With each visit that was made, there were beaming selfies taken with the man who had decided to walk 3,500 km across the country to unite India against hatred. If per chance they had missed the star of the show in the milling crowds, there were selfies with Kanhaiya Kumar, Yogendra Yadav and others who were walking in the yatra as well.

Also Read: Bharat Jodo Yatra: Key to Congress’ electoral revival lies elsewhere

A frenzy of sorts for this rendezvous with Rahul began getting evident as soon as he entered the city of palaces, Mysore. The Congress leader, often dismissed by opponents as a “failed politician” and to others as more of a “reluctant politician” had begun to evoke a curiosity and support that was getting infectious.

What caught my attention was Rahul’s visit to Badanavalu village in Mysore. Nearly 29 years ago, I had covered a story on television that had left a deep impact on me as it had exposed me to the ugly fissures of caste in Karnataka. It was about three Dalits being killed by an upper caste mob for daring to enter a temple. The deep divisions this incident caused had festered over three decades.

During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress Party built a road between the two areas where the communities lived and Rahul visited the village. Members of both communities were invited to eat at a common venue. You can dismiss this as a strategic programme done with a political motive. Or you can pause and appreciate the unifying sentiment behind it. I chose to do the latter. This was the moment I finally decided I would indeed go check out the yatra for myself.

Swelling crowds and picture-perfect moments

As the yatra wound itself through the city of palaces in Mysore accompanied by the sound of nadaswaram, through sugarcane growing districts of agricultural Mandya and coconut-growing countryside of Tumkur, it kept gathering momentum. Weather played truant and images surfaced of Rahul giving speeches in rallies in the pouring rain well after sunset. The images went viral and added to the evocative aura of a long march that was for peace and against hatred. School children who were nowhere near voting age and women agricultural workers marched hand in hand with him as did the mother and sister of slain journalist Gauri Lankesh.

There were images of Rahul tying the shoelaces of his mother,  Sonia Gandhi, who had come down for a day to join the yatra. The crowds kept swelling along the yatra route and much of it seemed spontaneous. The only organised part was each district bringing the party’s workers in thousands from each constituency.

Strict discipline was maintained with the yatra schedule. The yatris led by Rahul have been walking 25 km every day – 15 km in the morning from 6.30 am to 11 am and then again another 10 km from 4 pm to 7 pm. In between he holds informal interactions with farmers, labourers, students, media and party workers – again in designated slots. Then there is the massive operation of feeding all the yatris which includes party workers and visitors. District wise coordination is given to local leaders who work night and day to ensure that everything works like clockwork.

I decided to check out the pulse at Channagiri in Chitradurga district, famous for its Kallina Kote (Stone Fort) and also for being the hometown of former twice elected Congress chief minister S Nijalinpappa.

When warring leaders broke bread

By the time we drove across 270 km from Bangalore by car, the morning segment of the walk was over and we were told Rahul was in an interactive session. We were asked to wait for the afternoon interaction and urged to have our lunch instead. We found ourselves seated for a south Indian vegetarian lunch served on a banana leaf with steaming sambar, rice, vegetable curry, curd and ending with everyone’s favourite sweet, the famed Mysuru Pak. Top Congress leaders including the so-called warring leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivkumar, who have been walking and running together on the yatra with Rahul, were seen breaking the proverbial bread together at this lunch, presenting a face of unity. Also present on that day in Channagiri were over 6,500 party workers from Dakshina Kannada.

Soon after this well laid out meal, we made our way to the venue of the interactive session. It was time to wait for the man of the moment to arrive. Rahul arrived on the dot at 2 pm and after greeting us briefly started the Q and A with the gathered youth. The session was aptly titled “Karnataka Wants Jobs ‘’.

Touching base with beleaguered youth

Several of the youth participants who came to the dais shared the same predicament – they were unemployed despite being educated. “I have a huge family to support and I am 27 years old and till date I have not got a job – what does someone like me do?” asked a youth. They complained of having been asked to pay bribes when they wanted government jobs.

Also Read:  As Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra assumes pilgrimage’s hue, BJP tries to cover tracks

It was the perfect platform for Rahul to launch an attack on the BJP government both at the Centre and state: “There has to be a strategy to deliver jobs…both Karnataka government and the BJP government at the centre have no strategy for jobs. Instead they are attacking the system with policies like demonetisation and GST. Just think of how many businesses have been destroyed due to this in the country. That is why you all are struggling and the government is not giving you jobs. I see this as a complete waste of youth’s energy.” His remarks were greeted by huge applause from the audience.

Complaints of corruption in the disbursal of jobs – cash for jobs – by the youth also triggered a scathing critique from Rahul. Here the attacks were directly aimed at the Basavaraj Bommai government. “In Karnataka if you want a sub-inspector’s job, you have to pay lakhs of rupees to get it. Same is the case in many sectors. This has to stop,” said the Congress leader standing in the foreground of an infamous poster of Bommai’s photo with the caption ‘Pay CM 40 per cent’ displayed on a massive screen.

Throughout the yatra, Rahul has been attacking the Karnataka government on issues of corruption on contracts and disbursement of jobs among others, inviting retaliatory attacks from the BJP.

”You are one of the most talented and brilliant youth in the world. The government needs to start believing in you, in investing in you instead of destroying your dreams and stifling your hopes,” Rahul told the hundreds of unemployed youth sitting in the audience. His praise on the abilities of Karnataka youth was greeted by another roar of appreciation.

Making a case for Kannada language

It was time now to elaborate his own vision for job creation. “We in the Congress party will create jobs in healthcare, education and banks which will be for the youth. Unlike this government that is keeping you unemployed.”

Shruti, a young educated but unemployed woman complained that many of them are not adept in Hindi and the government was imposing a Hindi policy that will put them at a further disadvantage as they are well-versed only in Kannada. “This is absolutely wrong. Everyone has a right to communicate in their language,” Rahul said adding that this should not become another hurdle to deny jobs to the youth.

The photographs of late Kannada actor Puneet Rajkumar were also on display at the venue to remind people that his youth fan club and those who espouse pride in the Kannada language were there ostensibly in support of Rahul.

‘Rahul walking for our freedom like Gandhi’

Soon after the interaction was over it was time for the Congress leader to retire and rest for 30 minutes before the evening yatra resumed at 4 pm. Over a cup of Channagiri filter coffee I then tried probing Congress leaders including district level leaders and party workers. I fired a barrage of questions – How long had they been preparing for this yatra? How did they manage such a huge turnout everywhere? How was the Bharat Jodo Yatra different from Rahul’s any other joint endeavour with party leaders and workers? Was there unity among top party leaders? Could they sustain this momentum till the Assembly elections early next year..? etc etc.

The answers as you would expect were all optimistic and upbeat from the top leaders to the ordinary ones. But then that was understandable. They were after all revelling in the present high of the yatra.

Also Read:  Bharat Jodo Yatra: there is no short cut to Delhi through South India

“Our leader Rahul Gandhi has come down amongst us like a hurricane with his message to free the country from the politics of hatred – in every village and hobli the word has got around and people are saying how can you sit at home while he is walking…come and join and walk with him and they are coming in thousands,” Jalaja Naik, a former MLC from Davangere, who belongs to the tribal Lambani community and had come dressed in her tribal finery to join the yatra said.

Another party worker Mahbooba Khatoon said: “The BJP has spread darkness in the country. They have to go. Our leader Rahul Gandhi has come like Gandhi and is walking silently for our freedom.”

Senior leaders from Karnataka sat and had chit chatted amongst themselves and with visiting party delegations from the North East, Goa and other states.

”We have been preparing for this mammoth yatra for the last one month and leaders have been given their responsibility and we are doing everything we can to make it success in Karnataka,” Dinesh Gundu Rao, senior party honcho and son of the former Karnataka chief minister R Gundu Rao told this writer. Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge, who is a senior Congress leader and former minister was coordinating the programming party of the rally. I asked him why he wasn’t campaigning for his father who is running for the Congress president’s post. Pat came his reply, “When Rahul Gandhi is here in our state for this yatra, we have to be here.”

Senior Congress leaders and those from the Dakshina Kannada region were happy to see former Union minister Margaret Alva, who recently ran for Vice President, joining the yatra. She had earlier received a warm hug from Rahul for having come and she had given him some chocolates as a treat for the walk.

How Rahul’s rally rekindles lost camaraderie

If Rahul’s Bharat Jodo yatra had achieved one thing in Karnataka it was this. It appears to have reignited a sense of camaraderie among top Congress leaders and the district and grassroots party workers. The sight of the two warring leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar fist bumping each other and jogging alongside their leader evoked smiles from party colleagues. Whether this will sustain or die a natural death the moment the yatra passes through the state, only time will reveal.

At 4 pm, it was time for Rahul to begin the long march again. CRPF officials indicated that Rahul was ready for departure. Out he walked beaming and waving to everyone. Seeing us there, he stopped momentarily to greet and meet us again before departing.

Also Read: Bharat Jodo Yatra is just band-aid for existential crisis of Rahul and Congress

The clouds were building. More rain was predicted. But Rahul and the yatris had to walk another 10 km before reaching their night halting station. Drum beats and loud traffic horns merged and Rahul walked into the sunset amidst swelling crowds that had clogged traffic for a stretch of three kilometres. The next stop was Ballari.

For all the doubting Thomases in the ruling party and the media who had doubted and pooh-poohed Team Rahul’s ability to walk for 150 days over 3500 km, the gritty Congress leader has shown that he can do it. Walking without a break through India’s hinterlands on foot despite inclement late monsoon rains, bad village roads, jungles, Rahul Gandhi had just clocked 1,000 km when we met him.

Has he kicked up dust on the wet roads? Indeed he has.

(The writer is a former television journalist who had got the first ever television interview with Priyanka Gandhi in 1999 for NDTV when she had come to campaign for her mother, Sonia Gandhi in Bellary.)