Congress scion Rahul Gandhi’s controversial foot march ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ was a mega ‘relaunch’ of the Gandhi scion after multiple failed attempts. The Congress party lost in three out of four state assembly elections after the ‘Yatra’. The Yatra started in September 2022 and ended in January last year and could not yield much productive results for the party, however, it cost around Rs 71.83 crore. The yatra cost constituted 15.3% of Congress’s total annual expenditure and more than 30% of its administrative and general expenses in the year 2022-23. The party revealed this in its Annual Audit Report for the fiscal year 2022-2023 filed with the Election Commission.
Much like its electoral performance, the Congress party’s total receipt has also dropped to Rs 452 crore from Rs 541 crore in 2021-22. Meanwhile, its expenditure has increased from Rs 400 crore in the financial year 2021-22 to Rs 467 crore in 2022-2023, resulting in a deficit of Rs 15 crore.
Its electoral bond receipts plummeted to Rs 171 crore from Rs 236 crore in 2021-22, accounting for 63% of total donations and 38% of overall income. In total, the party received Rs 268 crore in “grants, donations, and contributions,” while in fiscal year 2021-22, it collected Rs 347 crore.
In 2022-23, Congress spent Rs 71.8 crore on the yatra and Rs 192.5 crore on elections (a decrease from Rs 279.5 crore the previous year). The party’s administrative and general expenses increased by 161% compared to 2021-22, owing to the yatra, a new programme, and a significant increase in spending on pre-poll surveys, which cost the party more than Rs 40 crore in 2022-23, up from Rs 23 lakh in the year 2021-22.
Notably, individual donors contributed Rs 43.2 crore of the party’s total revenues of Rs 452 crore in the previous fiscal year which is down from Rs 60.27 crore in 2021-22, while companies contributed Rs 53.9 crore in an increase from Rs 28.8 crore in 2021-22. The Congress reported no money from electoral trusts and foundations in 2022-23, after receiving Rs 18 crore through this source in 2021-2022.
Moreover, the party received Rs 125.7 crore in income from coupon issues and publication sales, while fees and subscriptions brought in Rs 42.4 crore.
Bharat Jodo Yatra
On 7th September 2022, Rahul Gandhi embarked on his relaunch journey ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and proclaimed himself as the owner-operator of ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’. The foot march started in Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari and concluded on 30th January 2023 in Jammu and Kashmir.
From widening the linguistic divide, meeting anti-Hindu pastor George Poonaiah, walking alongside Congress leader who openly slaughtered cow, feeling hatred between Maharashtra and Gujarat, controversial ‘activists’ like Yogendra Yadav, Medha Patkar, anti-Sikh riots accused Jagdish Tytler to raking up ‘outsider’ rhetoric in Jammu and Kashmir when migrant workers and non-locals were being killed by the terrorists, the Bharat Jodo Yatra grabbed attention for most if not all wrong reasons.
Despite the failure of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the party has launched Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0. The same old foot march with “Nyay” added to it. The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra started on 14th January and will conclude on 20th March 2024 across 14 states covering 6,200 kilometres and 85 zillas.
Donate for Desh
On 18th December 2023, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had launched the party’s fundraising campaign “Donate for Desh” from New Delhi where he donated Rs 1.38 lakh. On 28th December 2023, the party marked its 138th anniversary. In alignment with that, it had issued an appeal to its supporters to contribute in multiples of ₹138, while urging its district and state-level workers to donate ₹1380.
The fundraiser has turned out to be a flop show as the grand old party has received just Rs 16 crore, as informed by Congress’s treasurer Ajay Maken on 23rd January.
“Donate For Desh”https://t.co/kdXpsYx6II
— Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) January 23, 2024
एक नया अनुभव कई नए प्रयोग!
इस अभियान के तहत,
हम 16 करोड़ रुपए पार कर चुके हैं।
इस अभियान में अभी तक, लगभग ३ लाख लोगों ने हिस्सा लिया है।
पहली बार शुरू ऐसे अभियान ने हमें नई बातें भी सिखाई हैं। हमने कई नए experiment भी करे हैं, ताकि… pic.twitter.com/lU8dI46wL9
As reported earlier, the party could manage to raise just Rs 11 crore in two weeks since the campaign’s launch prompting the party leadership to direct the party workers to increase their efforts to raise more funds from party leaders, workers, and the general public. The paltry collections by the grand old party so far reflect the nation’s mood and that the party has failed in its attempts to connect with the people and garner their support.
Decreasing donations, rising expenses, and an already falling apart I.N.D.I. Alliance are all bad indications for the Congress party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections this year.
