The detailed schedule of Rahul Gandhi’s upcoming ‘Bharat Nyay Yatra’ will be decided on Thursday. This yatra would start from Manipur’s Imphal from January 14 and will end in Mumbai on 20 March. The Congress is set to hold a key meeting on Thursday here to discuss the schedule and routes of this yatra. The meeting will be chaired by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in the national capital.
The meeting will also focus on the party manifesto for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election. AICC general secretaries in charge of different states, CLP leaders, Congress CMs and all office-bearers will attend the meeting. Former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Gaghel, who are national alliance committee members, will be participating in the discussion. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram will head the meeting on manifesto.
As for Nyay Yatra, Rahul will travel mostly by bus this time. He will walk a short distance only. This yatra will pass through 28 districts of 18 states. It will be passing through mostly Hindi belt states. A big section of the Congress is apprehensive about the success of the yatra. Some members in the CWC meeting had expressed doubts over the success of the yatra. Rahul is starting his journey at a time when the excitement for the Lok Sabha elections will start increasing.
The second most important thing is that the manner in which BJP is conducting the Ayodhya Yatra may affect Rahul’s yatra. Even before the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22, the BJP has started efforts to build a nationwide momentum around Ram temple. On 22nd January, BJP issued a call for puja in temples and homes across the country. After this, devotees from all over the country will be brought to Ayodhya.
At such a time, Rahul’s Nyaya Yatra may be overshadowed.
At the time of Bharat Jodo Yatra, there were assembly elections in some states. When Congress had governments in states like Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, there was hardly any concern about the expenses that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra incurred.
Therefore, a large group used to travel together then. During the same period, the party won the elections in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh. This sent a message that the popularity of the Modi government at the Center has also started declining.
But the defeat in three major states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh brought Congress straight to the ground. The BJP again strengthened its position. The victory of three states and the Ram temple in Ayodhya have taken the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to its peak. At such a time, apprehensions are being raised regarding Rahul’s Nyay Yatra. There is also confusion about which issues should be discussed during the yatra.
There is no unanimity in the party even on the issue of conducting caste census. It will be interesting to see how the party deals with the challenges during the ‘yatra’. The matter regarding INDI Alliance is also stuck.
