Reflections on 60 days of the Bharat Jodo Yatra

Someone sarcastically asked me as to how much Bharat we have unified. I told him unless he realised how much the country is fragmented, he won’t what the Yatra has achieved

The Bharat Jodo Yatra has been successful in fulfilling its objectives beyond our expectations. When we had started on 7 September, there were many questions in our mind. Will people come along? Will we be able to walk 25 kms every day? We were taught in school that sometimes a person walks not with his feet but with his courage. It has proved right during this journey.But once we started, we just didn’t realise how more than 60 days passed. The Yatris faced various problems and roadblocks, but now people have risen above their physical struggles.There are two types of people in the Yatra. One, the people who are directly associated with the party, and two those who are not associated with the party but have joined the Yatra.The people on their rooftops, in front of shops, at the entrance to a village, those making videos on their mobiles—just by looking at those faces, in their eyes, it is clear that this Yatra was the need of the hour. And that is why, whatever the challenges, this Yatra is going to overcome all those challenges one after the other. Now the Yatra has completed its first stage and the Yatris are quite at home. The country, too, has imbibed the spirit of the Yatra, notwithstanding that the mainstream media has not it as much as it should have been. But there is no point complaining.When there was no mobile, TV, there still was communication in the society. That communication is still present in our society and hence almost every person in this country knows that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is happening.This means that our internal communication beyond WhatsApp, TV, newspaper is still alive. At the tea stalls, in the buses and trains, in the farming fields, in barns, in offices everywhere, in one form or the other, some day or the other, in the morning or in the evening, this discussion emerges that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is taking place. So, the Bharat Jodo Yatra has completed its first leg.A media friend asked if this Yatra will improve the image of Rahulji. This is a wrong question. The Yatra has not ‘improved’ Rahulji’s image, it has shown his real self—a sensitive, caring, intelligent leader who spontaneously and effortlessly connects with the people. And he is someone in whose company everyone, be it women, young men, children or the elderly, educated or unlettered, feels comfortable. What we gathered during the journey is more important and relevant. Women come and join the yatra, those who are not our party workers, they talk about inflation and the rising cost of running their household. The youth tell us that jobs are dwindling, job insecurity has risen. The students who are studying, making preparations for recruitment in the defence forces. They come and join the Yatra and they talk about unemployment.Farmers from different areas, farmers cultivating cotton, farmers cultivating soyabean or sugarcane, all of them are coming and telling their various problems. These are major issues that have come up. Women's security, farmers' high input costs and low selling price of their produce, right wages for labourers, employment for youth, inflation are the issues we came across during the Yatra.A journalist friend called and asked as to how much Bharat we had unified. I told him we are not running a tailor's shop to be able to tell you that we have added two metres or three metres. First ask yourself how fragmented and divided we are, and then only you will know how much we have come closer, unified. Until you realise how much we have fallen apart, you will not know how this Yatra is bringing people together and closer.The objective of this Yatra is political too, but it is not political alone. If we consider this Yatra only as political, then all the other dimensions are obscured.For example, think of the youth who is studying and preparing hard for some government job. His hope shatters when recruitment does not happen or the question paper is leaked. To rekindle hope among such youth is an objective of this Bharat Jodo Yatra as much as it is to give hope, strength and moral support to women in the times when rapists are being released by government diktats, and their release is being celebrated by many.The Bharat Jodo Yatra has been successful in achieving its objective of raising people's issues, and going forward it will ensure that the government is held accountable.That you are taking tax from all the people of the country and bailing out only your friends is not done. Raising the slogan of the nation, but filling the coffers of your friends doesn’t go. If this policy is changed, employment can be created on a large scale.As far as inflation is concerned, if the government does not play its role and leaves everything to the market, then how will it work? If the government does not take the responsibility of the public, then why should the public take the responsibility of the government? ***A media friend asked if this Yatra will improve the image of Rahulji. This is a wrong question. The Yatra has not ‘improved’ Rahulji’s image, it has shown his real self—a sensitive, caring, intelligent leader who spontaneously and effortlessly connects with the people. And he is someone in whose company everyone, be it women, young men, children or the elderly, educated or unlettered, feels comfortable. Crores of rupees had to be spent to tarnish his image. Now the public gets to see the real person. And all those sceptical questions about him have stopped.(Based on Kanhaiya Kumar’s press interaction on 13 Nov 2022 in New Delhi)

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