Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra is no walk in the park for Congress

‘Bharat Jodo or Seat Jodo? 18 days in Kerala. Two days in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Strange way to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.’

This was one of the tweets by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), on September 12, criticising the way the ambitious Bharat Jodo Yatra by the Congress was planned.

As the yatra led by Rahul Gandhi completes 10 days, there are a series of tweets doing the rounds – from calling him a ‘food blogger’ to making the cost of his T-shirt a topic of public debate. However, what is hitting the party even more is the selective omission of states like Gujarat and UP - long considered BJP bastions.

The padyatra that started from Kanyakumari on September 7 is expected to cover 3,570 kilometres (km) in 150 days. It is facing criticism from Left parties for devoting more time to states like Kerala, where the BJP vote share is just 10-12 per cent. The party had pitched the yatra with the expressed objective of positioning the Congress as a natural national alternative to the BJP.

The CPI(M) alleges that Rahul is having a series of meetings with forces spearheading protests in the state. For instance, at one of the first meetings Rahul held in the state was with the fishing community in Kerala protesting the Rs 7,500-crore Vizhinjam international seaport project by Adani Group. The protests are being backed by the Latin Catholic church. The church representatives met the Gandhi scion. Rahul also termed the K-Rail ‘unnecessary’ after a meeting with its protesters.

Political analysts cite this as a step against the CPI(M) government and a plan to rescue the existing seats in the state. Of a total of 53 seats the party won during the last Lok Sabha (LS) elections, 19 were from Kerala.

“There are 190-200 LS seats where the Congress is supposed to take on the BJP. Unfortunately, Bharat Jodo is not focusing on those areas. There is no point in covering Kerala for 18 days. They don’t want to understand the larger picture,” said John Brittas, a CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member from Kerala.

According to Brittas, the Congress should have started the yatra from Gujarat and covered the whole of UP instead of opting to save its existing seats.

The BJP, too, raised objections against Rahul’s stance on issues like the Vizhinjam port. “Vizhinjam was a project started when Oommen Chandy was chief minister of Kerala. His yatra seems to have no proper aim or vision. They just want to save the existing seats in Kerala,” said A N Radhakrishnan, state vice-president of the BJP. He added that the Congress has no ability to win seats in major states like UP and Gujarat.

Of the 150 days, the yatra will cover 21 days each in Rajasthan and Karnataka, 13 days in Telangana, 16 days each in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, two days in Delhi, 12 days in Haryana, and 11 days in Punjab, before reaching Jammu & Kashmir. The absence of poll-bound states like Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh are also being highlighted by critics. There were reports that the number of days in UP was increased to five after CPI(M) censure.

In Congress’ defence, it said that a total of five routes were considered and this route was selected based on geography, logistics, and security.

Veteran Congress leader and Member of Parliament Jairam Ramesh told the media it is the South to North length of Kerala extending up to 370 km to reach Karnataka is what resulted in taking 18 days time, with two days of rest.

Ramesh also responded to the CPI(M), calling the Left party BJP’s A team in the land of ‘Mundu Modi’, taking a potshot at Pinarayi Vijayan.

In addition, the party is of the opinion that covering Gujarat would have increased the duration of the yatra by several more days and the yatra would not have reached the state before the polls as it would have taken at least 90-95 days to reach Narendra Modi’s home state. 

Still, there is a section in the Congress that believes that by the time the yatra reaches the Hindi-speaking areas, the interest of the media and the workers may wane.