Rahul Yatra: As BKU’s Naresh Tikait now hails the ‘thought revolution’, Jairam calls march sanjivani for Congress

Tikait wrote in this letter, “You have brought vaicharik kranti in India through Bharat Jodo Yatra in the past 100 days, which is inspirational and worth appreciating”. He wrote that because the yatra also highlighted the issues of farmers, it would become a historic one for Independent India, in the way the “Dandi Marcha” of Mahatma Gandhi inspired pre-Independence India.

Congress leaders travelling with the yatra informed that representatives of the RLD, the Mahan Dal and the Peace Party, as well as actress Ritu Shivpuri, had joined them at different points on Thursday.

After covering about 15 km from Aelam to Unchagaon, Rahul Gandhi stopped to interact with representatives of Dalit, OBC and social organisations, as well as unaffiliated youth, and held two separate discussions — a “Samjik Nyay Samvad” on topics ranging from OBC reservations to caste-based census, and another called “Yuva Samvad”, where he discussed education policy and the alleged fee hikes in schools and colleges. He reportedly assured the delegations that reservations should be implemented across the country on the lines of what is being done in Chattisgarh, which has a Congress government.

At Unchagaon, Jairam Ramesh kindled expectations of a proposed East-West yatra by saying that in 2023, another yatra of this kind would travel West to East and include all remaining districts of Uttar Pradesh, as well as Bihar, West Bengal and Assam.

“Iska natija jaroor hai ki Congress sangathan mein ek nayi urja ayi hai. Yeh Congress sangathan ke liye ek sanjeevani hai… (The outcome of this yatra is the new energy in the Congress organisation. It’s acting like a life-giving potion…),” said Ramesh. He maintained that the yatra was not meant for votes, nor to win elections and said that from January 26 to March 26, Congress leaders and workers would undertake a “Hath Se Hath Jodo Abhiyan” to reach out to the masses at block, district and state levels, and carry forward the message of the yatra, which was to address “three major dangers or challenges being faced by democracy in the country”.

He went on to inform that the yatra would spend the next four and a half days in Haryana, before taking a break between January 12 and January 13. Then it would enter Punjab, followed by one day in Himachal Pradesh. It would then spend seven days in Jammu and Kashmir, before ending with the hoisting of the tricolour in Srinagar on January 30.

Insisting that the yatra is not an event but a movement, Ramesh said it is for the first time that the Congress has taken up a fight for ideology, maintaining that electoral politics would depend on the organisation.

Responding to statements by some BJP leaders, Ramesh, who also pointed out poor condition of roads in Uttar Pradesh, said that the poison of divisive politics and of RSS has seeped into every section of the society, and would require a long struggle for anywhere between five, 10 or 15 years to remove it. He said that there are two main ideologies in the country, with the BJP- RSS on one side and the Congress on the other.

Asked about many Opposition leaders extending support to the yatra but not joining it, Ramesh said that yesterday, some of the RLD leaders present had even submitted a memorandum to Rahul Gandhi, adding that while parties like SP and BSP which have extended their support, have their own calculations for not joining the yatra.

“This yatra could also result in the strengthening of the Opposition, because if Congress becomes strong, it would also strengthen the Opposition. And Congress is growing in strength with the Bharat Jodo Yatra,” said Ramesh.

Later in the day, the yatra entered Haryana through Kairana.