India looks to great grandson of Nehru to halt Modi juggernaut

 

India looks to great grandson of Nehru to halt Modi juggernaut

Having successfully concluded the Baraat Jodo Pad Yatra from Kanyakumari, the southern tip of India to Kashmir – the norther state bordering Pakistan and China  -  covering a distance of more than 4,000 km, a year ago, Rahul Gandhi launched another crisscrossing exercise called the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, East to West, that began in Manipur on 14 January 2024 and concluded in Mumbai on 16 March, covering some 6,700 km.  He is the only leader to undertake such a mammoth historical Yatra across the length and breadth of the country, of more than 10,000 km  -  the longest ever in the world.   

 

The purpose of the Yatra, as he said, was to unite India against the communal and divisive forces and make the people conscious of their rights and stand against injustice  -  social, economic and political  -   that is perpetuated by the Modi regime. In Manipur, a north-eastern state witnessing a civil war, he said, “The BJP and the RSS’s politics of hatred, their vision, their ideology … Manipur symbolizes what this ideology has done.  We understand the pain of the people, the hurt, the sadness. We will bring back harmony, peace and affection for which this state was known” (The Hindu 15/1/24). 

 

Addressing a press conference in Kohima, capital of Nagaland, on 16 January, he commented on the consecration ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, being performed few days later: “the RSS   and the BJP have made the January 22 function, a Narendra Modi function … those who really believe in religion in the true sense keep their relations with religion personal and don’t make use of religion …  I try to live by the principles of religion and apply them to my life … I behave properly with people.  I treat people with respect ... I don’t spread hatred … I don’t need to wear it on my sleeve” (IE  17/1/24). 

 

Rahul’s march has re-energized the Congress party’s cadre. In most of the public events, his main plank remained a nation-wide caste census, an ‘ex-ray’ of who is who in Indian society, as he launched scathing attack at Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP, promising to conduct the exercise, if his party is voted to power at the Centre.  He said that nearly 90 per cent of people in India, comprising of OBCs, SCs STs, and minorities, are exploited and denied justice by the Modi government which worked for benefit only the big corporates like Adani and Ambani. He charged that some 20-25 industrialists own the nation's 70 per cent wealth. The poor and the disposed looked to him as a messiah, someone to espouse their cause.

 

In Narmada district’s Kuvarpura, he interacted with civil society’s leaders working in the Dalit, Adivasi, and Kisan movements in the State of Gujarat. They highlighted the fact that Adivasi communities face multiple dislocations in just one lifetime, often being evicted several times without adequate compensation and rehabilitation and how the housing market in different parts of the state is getting segregated caste-wise, and how minorities have become increasingly more vulnerable {The Hindu 10/3). Rahul Gandhi announced the Panch Nyay agenda - yuva nyay, kisan nyay, nari nyay, shramik nyay and hissedari nyay. This is incorporated in the Congress party’s manifesto - each Nyay programme with five guarantees, a total of 25 guarantees.

 

And addressing Mahila Sammelan in Dhule district of Maharashtra, Rahul Gandhi announced five Nari Nyay guarantees - one lakh rupees a year for poor women, 50% reservation in central government jobs, doubling of the income of ASHA workers, women in Anganwadis and those in mid-day meal schemes, Savitribai Phule hostels for working women in every district across the country and Adhikar Maitri in every gram panchayat.

 

After the supreme court declared the electoral bonds unconstitutional, Rahul at a Press Conference in Mumbai said: The electoral bonds are the world’s biggest national level extortion racket, the most corrupt scam in the world. It is a way of intimidating and extorting money from corporates, linking raids to donations. It is a criminal act.

 

On 17 March, before concluding the Bhart Jodo Nyay Yatra at the iconic Shivaji Park in Mumbai, Rahul accompanied by his sister Priyanka visited Mani Bhavan, Mumbai, where Mahatma Gandhi stayed during the freedom movement.  He led a Nyay Sankalp Padayatra from Mani Bhavan to August Kranti Maidan – where his great grandfather Pandit Nehru  moved the ‘Quit India’ Resolution on 8 August 1942, asking the British to leave India. Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and many prominent citizens and social activists participated in the Nyay Sankalp Yatra.

 

The Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra united the opposition, like never before. It was an expression of solidarity and unity by the opposition INDIA bloc. The opposition leaders realized how important were the Yatras undertaken by Rahul Gandhi to unite people against the communal and divisive politics of the ruling party and to wake up them from deep slumber. The Yatras highlighted the people’s issues. He interacted with thousands of people cutting across communities and professions.

 

The leaders of opposition INDIA bloc attended the concluding mass public rally of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.  They included DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) Uddhav Thackeray, NCP (SP) President Sharad Pawar, former J&K CMs Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, Jharkhand CM Champai Soren, former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana, VBA’s chief Prakash Ambedkar, AAP’s leader Saurab Bhardwaj, CPI(ML} Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and many other leaders of opposition. They gave a clarion call to the people to vote out the dictatorial Modi government to save democracy or else this could be the last election.

 

Speaking at the rally, from a written text in English, Stalin said that Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was not the journey of Rahul or Congress but of the whole India.  Modi did nothing in the last ten years. He did two things – making several foreign trips and indulging in propaganda. And “there is no bigger threat to India than BJP. The real victory of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra stands in defeating BJP and capturing Delhi” (IE 18/3). Mehbooba Mufti reminded Rahul Gandhi that he comes from the Gandhi family, which the Modi government is afraid of, and that the supreme sacrifices of his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi for the country should not go waste and that he has a responsibility of saving India becoming Xi Jinping’s China and Putin’s Russia, a one-man dictatorship which Narendra Modi is trying to convert India into.

  

Rahul Gandhi has emerged as the principal national opposition leader, determined to defeat the communal divisive forces. In his concluding address at the mega rally, he said (a summary of what he said, based on reports in the mainstream newspapers, 18 March ):

 

The ED and CBI are being used ruthlessly to throttle the opposition voice. We will not succumb to such pressure tactics. We are here to end the dictatorship of Moodi. The ED had interrogated me for 50 hours. And in the end, the investigating officer told me that since I was not scared of the ED, I could defeat Modi in the polls. When Arun Jaitley was Union minister, he had personally called on me and suggested not to speak on land acquisition rules. When I made it clear to him that it was his right to speak, he threatened to file a case against me. Many leaders were being threatened and were joining the BJP out of fear. Narendra Modi cannot win any election without EVMs. The soul of the king is in EVMs and in every institution including ED, CBI and Income Tax. We asked why the Election Commission is not ready to match the slips coming out of the EVMs, but they declined. Narendra Modi is just a mask and an actor. Today Narendra Modi has a monopoly over corruption. The electoral bonds scheme is the national version of roadside hafta vasooli. Everybody thinks that we are fighting against a political party or against an individual Narendra Modi. No, it is not. He is just a face. We are fighting against a particular power (shakti). That power, which is in EVMs and in institutions, is robbing you of your money and Narendra Modi’s job is to distract your attention from that. You have to stand up against the Modi government. You all are ‘Bharat Mata’.

Yogendra Yadav, who accompanied Rahul Gandhi throughout the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, representing civil society, has summed up what the Yatra meant: This was the Yatra of thousands of civil society organisations, a Jan Andolan of artists, writers, public intellectuals and general public, who are concerned and worried and want to save India and the Constitution.  He said, Rahul has given two new words to the Naton -   Mohabat and Nyay.  Today a new third Yatra has begun to save the soul of India. 

 

Rahul Gandhi has come a long way as a credible political leader - selfless, forthright, fearless and determined - the most strident face of anti-BJP politics. He is following the footsteps of the two greatest illustrious leaders that the freedom movement had produced – Gandhi and Nehru.  History has cast him for a bigger role in the service of his country.  And India looks to great grandson of Nehru to halt Modi juggernaut.