Congress leader Rahul Gandhi
Credit: PTI Photo
Almost a year after he concluded his 4,000 km Kanyakumari to Srinagar walkathon, top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is embarking on a 6,713 km Manipur to Mumbai ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ (BJNY) from Sunday just weeks before the start of Lok Sabha election.
The yatra, which will be kicked off by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge from Manipur’s Thoubal, also comes just eight days ahead of the consecration of Ram temple, invitation to which the party leaders "respectfully declined" terming it an “RSS-BJP event” aimed at reaping “electoral gains”.
Congress pitched Rahul’s ‘Yatra 2.0’, a combination of a bus yatra with a small component of padayatra, as an “ideological yatra” by a political party but “not an electoral yatra” starting from near the Khongjam War Memorial, the iconic war where Manipuris took on Britishers, in Thoubal district.
However, party leaders expect that it would help the party in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. Rahul is expected to communicate to the voters about Congress’ poll plank and roll out the party’s guarantees on the front of social, economic and political justice.
“The Prime Minister is selling fake dreams and talking about ‘Amrit Kaal’ but in the last ten years, an ‘anyay kaal’ (era of injustice) is happening in this country…We hope that Rahul Gandhi’s message will reach out to people,” Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh told a press conference here.
Pitched as a follow up to the south to north Bharat Jodo Yatra, the east to west BJNY will will pass through Rahul Gandhi's previous Lok Sabha seat Amethi, Sonia Gandhi's Rae Bareli, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi and Scindia bastion Guna before its conclusion in Mumbai on March 20. The 66-day yatra majorly on bus will not be touching Ayodhya.
Sending a clear signal by choosing ethnic violence-hit Manipur as the launch pad, the BJNY seeks to raise issues related to economic, social and political justice while covering 110 districts of 15 states and 101 Lok Sabha constituencies and 337 Assembly seats.
Ramesh said the idea of both the yatras had its inspiration from the Preamble of Constitution. He said the Bharat Jodo Yatra concentrated on the aspects of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity while the latest one will focus on 'nyay' or justice on social, economic and political fronts.
Initially named ‘Bharat Nyay Yatra’ and then rechristened as BJNY to capitalise on the recall value of Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul will cover Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
It will cover cities and towns like Kohima, Itanagar, Cooch Behar, Guwahati, Siliguri, Purnia, Dhanbad, Ranchi,Agra, Gwalior, Ujjain, Guna and Malegaon.
The yatra will pass through three states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – where the party recently lost elections. The yatra will be covering Rajasthan, MP and Maharashtra for the second time as the Bharat Jodo Yatra has passed through it.
The Uttar Pradesh leg of the yatra will be the longest as Rahul will cover 1,074 km in the state in 11 days covering 20 districts. In West Bengal, the yatra will cover 523 km and seven districts in five days while in Assam, it is 833 km and 17 districts in eight days.
The yatra will travel five days in Gujarat covering 445 km and seven districts while in Maharashtra, it will be 480 km in five days covering six districts while in Manipur, Rahul will cover 107 km in one day covering four districts before entering Nagaland.