: Opinion: Kharge and hope for Congress #IndiaNEWS #News By Amitava Mukherjee So far I have seen quite a few yatras in my life. Two of them have left permanent imprints in my mind. The first one was

Opinion: Kharge and hope for Congress #IndiaNEWS #News
By Amitava Mukherjee
So far I have seen quite a few yatras in my life. Two of them have left permanent imprints in my mind. The first one was that of Vinoba Bhave the respected Gandhian who had undertaken a tour of West Bengal in the 1960s. Although at that time I was a child, still I cannot forget the enthusiasm among the people and the respect they felt for Vinoba. That was yatra of a different kind, one really meant for the uplift of the common people’s life.
Of Padayatras
The second one I remember was that of Chandrasekhar, the former Janata Party President, who in 1983 had undertaken his Kanyakumari to Delhi padayatra. Certainly not in the same genre as that of Vinoba Bhave, Chandrasekhar’s padayatra had reminded the Indians of some vital questions emergency, authoritarianism, abrogation of human rights and all-encompassing poverty. It had a lasting impact. It contributed its might behind Chandrasekhar becoming the Prime Minister of India a few years later.
Today Rahul Gandhi of the Congress is undertaking another padayatra. I am leaving out the padayatra of Vinoba Bhave here because he was too gigantic and too saintly a person to have any comparison with mundane politicians. But let us consider the padayatra of Chandrasekhar. He had a definite goal. Indira Gandhi had come back to power and the ‘Young Turk’ of the Congress of the 1970s was trying to warn the nation of a comeback of authoritarian family rule. Congress sympathisers might dispute the word authoritarian. Well, Rajiv Gandhi had not certainly shown that trait of authoritarianism as her mother had exhibited. But Chandrasekhar was right on the other count. Family rule continued after Indira.
Party’s Intention
Now, what goal is Rahul Gandhi trying to fix before the nation’s mindset through his padayatra? The Congress and the media call it Bharat Jodo Yatra but in effect and in essence, it is a Congress Jodo Yatra because the party is falling apart.
Apparently, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have spoken of the party’s intention to stand up to some evils communalism, casteism, authoritarianism, etc. But those evils have been sapping the country’s vitality for a long time. So why is the yatra being undertaken at such a juncture?
It is because Congress is now in a crisis and it has to face several State Assembly elections soon. Mallikarjun Kharge, the newly elected Congress president, is a known Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist and it is now an open question whether this is a baggage for him or not. Quite some time back Makhan Lal Fotedar, another Indira Gandhi loyalist, had commented that the leadership of Sonia and Rahul will come under question from within the Congress.

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