On Monday, Congress’ so-called unity march named ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ led by its leader Rahul Gandhi ended in Kashmir but resulted in a huge disappointment for the party as leaders of only 8 out of 23 political parties attended the final event. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had invited heads of 23 political parties and had asked them to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra’s concluding event. However, only a handful of members managed to make it to the event.
According to the reports, DMK’s Tiruchi Siva, CPI general secretary D Raja, the National Conference’s Omar Abdullah, the PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, the RSP’s NK Premachandran, BSP MP Shyam Singh Yadav and the IUML’s K Navas Kani attended the event at Sher-I-Kashmir Stadium on January 30. Also present were representatives of the JMM and the VCK.
The Congress expected all parties requested to send members to the celebration at Srinagar’s Sher-e-Kashmir cricket stadium. Congress communication head Jairam Ramesh had said in a press conference at the AICC headquarters earlier this month that there would be meeting and discussions among the heads of political parties ahead of the 2024 elections. “You will see the meeting in Srinagar on the 30th… the aim (of the meeting) is that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is over… what is the next step to be taken in the context of the 2024 elections… there will be some discussions on that,” he had said.
While HD Deve Gowda of the JD(S) and Rajiv Ranjan ‘Lalan’ Singh of the JD(U) had written to Congress head Mallikarjun Kharge expressing their inability to attend the occasion, leaders of the Trinamool Congress, RJD, Samajwadi Party, and CPI(M) failed to attend too. Shiv Sena (Thackeray), NCP, TDP, BSP, RLSP, HAM, MDMK, and Kerala Congress also skipped the meeting.
However, the majority of its partners including the NCP, Shiv Sena, JMM, and DMK, participated in the Yatra at various locations. When the Yatra entered Maharashtra, Aditya Thackeray (Shiv Sena) and Supriya Sule (NCP) walked alongside Rahul, while Sanjay Raut also recently joined him in Jammu.
Notably, BSP MP Shyam Singh Yadav, who walked beside Rahul when the Yatra passed through Delhi, also attended the ceremony. According to reports, Singh, the MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur seat, did not attend the event as a BSP delegate.
“We all fought together for the independence of the country and liberated it from the British Raj. All secular parties must come together to liberate the country from the BJP Raj,” CPI leader Raja said. While Omar requested Rahul to take up another yatra from the west to the east of the country and promised to walk with him. Mufti meanwhile stated that the public saw a glimmer of hope in Rahul Gandhi.
“A historic movement was undertaken. Rahul Gandhi has proved that he is the right leader to fight against these divisive forces,” RSP’s Premchandran extended support to the Congress Party.
The five-month march began in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu’s southernmost town, and ended in Srinagar, the state capital of Jammu and Kashmir. Though the march attracted large crowds around the country and received support from several celebrities, it is difficult to say if this attempt of Rahul Gandhi would help him get votes in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Last week it was reported that India’s citizens appear to be content with the performance of the Narendra Modi-led NDA administration. According to the India Today-CVoter Mood of the Nation survey, if the Lok Sabha elections were conducted today, the Bharatiya Janata Party would win 284 seats and the Congress party would win 191 seats only.
