As any politician knows it takes a twinkle of an eye for the massive majority gathered in elections to disappear.
The Congress cannot be written off as a national-level challenger and there are others like the Aam Aadmi Party ready to snipe at the edges or even rustle up organizations and candidates in all states to eat up a substantial portion of votes, come 2024.
The Gujarat victory should in no way make Modi complacent. It was his home turf, which would not easily betray the son of soil Gujarat’s pride Modi. The surprising thing is how come Aam Aadmi party opened its account in Gujarat.
Despite all going for Modi, AAP was able to successfully turn the tide against the BJP. They were able to cash in on whatever resentment was brewing among people following the long stint of BJP rule.
This is something that BJP analysts must take seriously.
Congress has also turned a new leaf. No more can the “dynastic rule” charge be pasted by the BJP, whatever allegations of the Congress chief being a rubber stamp may be aired, on the face of it Congress has a president who is not from the “family”, has a mind of his own and is not mum at all.
Secondly, after years, Congress has understood that politics cannot be played from the air conditioned rooms of Delhi, or helicopter visits just before elections.
Rahul Gandhi’s “Bharat Jodo” yatra if dismissed by the BJP as only a PR exercise of Congress and an image makeover for Rahul Gandhi would be a serious mistake.
Clearly, by undertaking this Yatra, Rahul Gandhi has demonstrated that he is no more a Pappu. He can become a formidable opposition leader and if he plays his cards right can actually vie for the top slot.
One must understand the importance of the two words “Bharat Jodo” which directly hits out at the BJP, which suffers from the image that it is dividing the nation into majority-minority. Clearly, BJP rose to power continuously charging Congress of pampering minorities, particularly the Muslims, and indulging in the so-called “pseudo-secularism”.
It turned the tables on Congress by taking up the cause of the majority community the Hindus and no wonder got windfall votes in election after election. The Ram Mandir is an example in front how BJP has made it the biggest feather on its cap when we hardly remember that it was Rajiv Gandhi (Congress) who gave the orders for opening the gates of the then Babri Masjid.
Despite whatever Modi might say regarding “Sabka Saath” and “Sabka Vikas” there is no gainsaying the fact that the statements made by its leaders, the behavior of the militant fringe outfits of the BJP, stress on Hindutva has only created further divisions among communities and does not assuage the minorities in the country at all. The minority is worried about its safety and security. Clearly, muscle-flexing majoritarianism can lead to feelings of insecurity among the many minority citizens of the country.
At this point a Bharat Jodo yatra becomes extremely relevant and as it passes through the country the whole issue of majority-minority as a motif is recurrently played out making the common people of the country wonder whether “Hindu Rashtra” would be the right path India should follow if it wants to be a secular, progressive and modern developed country.
Can India afford to alienate its minorities? The answer clearly is no. India is as much a home of minorities as it is that of the majority. Except for rare occasions when due to political interests common people in India of different communities have been at the throat of each other, mostly the common people of different communities in India have been staying harmoniously together for centuries.
The Bharat Jodo yatra stresses this basic togetherness and harmony which can be the leading light if the country has to move forward and become an egalitarian society.
Rahul Gandhi and others who have actually undertaken a walk through the whole country must have seen the tremendous variety of people, cultures, and languages as one crossed one state to another or sometimes one geographic area to another within the state itself. This kind of multifarious cultural diversity is something that very few countries can be proud of.
This “unity in diversity” lies at the core of Congress’s thought and ideology as different from “uniformity”, which they say the BJP tries to impose. The heart of the idea of India lies in its composite culture and ethos evolved through the contributions made by many civilizations and traditions is the Congress’s belief.
So the Bharat Jodo yatra in a sense places Congress’s ideology in front of a large section of people in contrast with that of the BJP.
Now how much this messaging would convert into votes for Congress in 2024 is something to be seen.
But to dismiss Congress’s Bharat Jodo yatra by BJP would be at its own peril.
To call it a jamboree of “unemployed leaders” might just boomerang because bread and butter issues like price rise, unemployment, and security, are key issues touching the common man on which the Congress and the Bharat Jodo Yatra would like to nail PM Modi.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra part of political maturing for Rahul should sound a warning bell for Modi.
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
