Gen Deepak Kapoor to Swara Bhasker: Congress’ fellow travellers in Rahul Yatra

The comment drew fire from the Congress for targeting a war veteran. Congress’s social media head Supriya Shrinate tweeted, “General Kapoor, a war veteran of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, recipient of PVSM, AVSM, VSM and Sena Medal among a host of other awards, served our nation from 1967 to 2010 for 4 decades. You should be ashamed of yourself for maligning our brave hearts. Pity you and your sorry existence.”

Dulat walked in the yatra for an hour last Tuesday in Delhi before it entered Uttar Pradesh. The former intelligence official was also targeted by Malviya who said, “No one ever accused Dulat of being committed either to his job or the country he was meant to serve, supped with secessionists and Pakistan’s deep state and has a monumental role in Kashmir fiasco.”

Raghuram Rajan also faced the BJP’s ire for joining the Yatra last month when it was in Rajasthan. At the time, Malviya tweeted, “He fancies himself as the next Manmohan Singh. His commentary on India’s economy should be discarded with disdain. It is coloured and opportunistic.”

Other high-profile names

Since the Yatra started, the Congress has been trying to get civil society leaders to participate, sending out invitations to them. During the short Tamil Nadu leg of the yatra, Gandhi met activists who in the past strongly disagreed with his party, including Dalit activist Shalin Maria Lawrence, anti-nuclear activist SP Udayakumar and his friends who were at the forefront of a fight against the Manmohan Singh-led Union government to shut down the Kudankulam nuclear plant, and Sundar Rajan of well-known environmental group Poovulagin Nanbargal.

Among the first people outside the political establishment to join the yatra were journalist Gauri Lankesh’s mother and sister. They walked with Gandhi as the yatra passed through Karnataka’s Mandya district. Lankesh, a vocal critic of Hindutva politics, was shot dead in 2017.

On the yatra’s 56th day, Pooja Bhatt became the first actor to join the yatra as she walked with Gandhi and the others in Hyderabad. “Every day a new history is being created… Every day the number of people who love is increasing in the country,” the Congress wrote, tweeting photos and videos of Bhatt at the yatra.

A day earlier, Rohith Vemula’s mother Radhika joined the yatra. Rohith was a Dalit student at the University of Hyderabad and his suicide sparked widespread protests in 2016.

As Riya Sen joined the yatra in Maharashtra’s Akola district on November 17, the Congress shared a series of her pictures and tweeted, “Actor Riya Sen joined #BharatJodoYatra. Now the roads are witnessing the revolution.” Sen also took to social media to talk about her experience. “Happy to be a part of this platform not only from the film industry but also as a proud citizen!” wrote the 41-year-old actor. In a previous post, she described the Bharat Jodo Yatra as a “show of unity”, saying, “Grateful to be a part of an initiative that is focused on bringing the people of this country together! @RahulGandhi thank you for championing this bold initiative in a show of unity. #BharatJodoYatra.”

Three days later, veteran actor Amol Palekar and writer-filmmaker Sandhya Gokhale, his wife, walked along with Rahul in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district. “Realising his responsibility towards the country, today famous actor and film director Amol Palekar along with his wife joined #BharatJodoYatra to discharge it. Thank you for raising the voice of the country,” read the Congress’s tweet.

Swara Bhasker joined Gandhi on December 1 when the Yatra was passing through Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. In a tweet afterwards, she said, “The energy, commitment & love is inspiring! The participation & warmth of common people, enthusiasm of Congress workers & RG’s attention & care toward everyone & everything around him is astounding!”

TM Krishna joined the yatra for an afternoon in Agar, Madhya Pradesh, on December 3. Taking to Twitter later, he said, “Truly wonderful to participate in this very important yatra. A movement that seeks to bring everyone together, at a time when we are being divided by hate and anger.”

Actors Sushant Singh and Kamya Punjabi were among those who joined the yatra in the Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh legs, respectively. Poet Meena Kandasamy walked with Rahul on the first day of the march in Tamil Nadu.

The yatra led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7 and is set to conclude in Srinagar on January 30.