By D N Singh
Walking for a greater cause and now working hard to translate the gains to the ground if any.
With the 2024 barely a big distance away, Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra which ended in Kashmir, has left bigger role for the Congress scion and the party as a whole to look at the real goal post.
Whereas, on the other side the Central government’s budget has left little doubt in many minds that, that was with an eye for the big electoral jamboree in 2024, a slugfest in the offing that would determine many political fortunes and a combative cooperator sector flexing its muscles to gain.
For Rahul it was a months long travel to regain its credibility that has been floundering since last almost nine years and it is no mere task for Rahul to convert whatever euphoria through the BJY into a real political campaign. It is a different matter that, Congress has made it more social than a political one.
BJY or Hath se Hath Jodo, but in nut shell, it were all directed at the incumbent BJP led government in the Centre and that is it.
But, as a real theme, all those efforts made and in the pipeline simply to keep the momentum up till 2024 which is no mere challenge.
However, in the entire exercise, Rahul Gandhi, with beards grown and unkempt hair, was perceived as the main image-pusher where was many Congress stalwarts were left to give the curtain call only which has instilled some heart-burning among many.
But that again re-ushers the family or dynastic grudges within the common people although the party simply made a make-believe topping of out of the Family symbolism by projecting Mallikarjun Kharge as the Congress president.
But the recent survey by C-Voters positioned the party to win just 68 seats and the UPA 153 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. That is not what would satisfy the party and its followers.
For the conscious mass, the Yatra was, in essence more an abstract one and one would not get the party towards a revival pulpit. Even the 2023 Assembly polls can bring for the a decisive trend for the major final the year next.
In Rajasthan, for instance, the focus of the yatra will be less on Congress’ national narrative and will strictly focus on local issues relevant to the upcoming election. “The Rajasthan government will announce the state budget on 10 February, and we hope that it will be a good one. That combined with other policies of the government will form the structure of much of our yatra’s campaigning,” said Piyush Mehta, a local journalist in Jaipur.
Many local issues would dominate in 2023 as well hence the Yatra being an abstract theme the party is to create its new narrative as soon as possible. Rest the remaining Hath se Hath jodo yatra may not compensate the abstract meomentum by Rahul.
The flip-side to such a localised campaign could be that there would be little to no media coverage of it. In the BJY too, Rahul Gandhi stuck to giving interviews to alternate youtube channels and influencers, straying clear of much of the mainstream media. But that allowed the party to create its own narrative and be more in control of how they define themselves and the movement.
