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Journalism of Courage
ON MONDAY, into the last four days of the Haryana election campaign that he largely stayed away from, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi set off on a “Yatra” along with sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Starting at 11 am from Naraingarh, and wrapping up in the evening at Kurukshetra, the Gandhi siblings covered around 100 km in an open jeep. At least two more Yatras are planned before campaigning wraps up on October 3.
The five takeaways of the Gandhis’ ‘Haryana Vijay Sankalp Yatra’:
📌 Bharat Jodo effect: Gandhi is hoping to generate the same response as the Bharat Jodo Yatra got, covering a large swathe of area in a shorter time, rather than holding multiple meetings. The BJP anyway is better than Congress at arranging mega events, and the Gandhi camp perhaps feel it is wiser to not compete with it on this front.
📌 Unity picture: The BJP has been constantly attacking the Congress over the barely concealed discord between its top leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja. The Assembly seat of Naraingarh that Gandhi chose for the Yatra launch on Monday has Shalley Chaudhary as the Congress candidate. Chaudhary is a close aide of Selja, the AICC general secretary and Sirsa MP.
Gandhi didn’t just ensure the presence of both Hooda and Selja on stage, along with PCC president Udai Bhan and other Congress leaders, but he also made them hold each other’s hands as a show of solidarity after his speech ended. There was a rousing response from the crowd at the gesture.
Last week, Selja, who was absent from the campaign for a noticeable period and was said to be sulking, also shared the stage with Hooda and Gandhi in Assandh.
A senior Haryana Congress admitted that the party wanted to demonstrate that there is no factionalism. “The BJP downplays divisions within its own cadre – be it Anil Vij, Om Prakash Dhankar, Rambilas Sharma, Rao Inderjit Singh and many others – but keeps focusing on the Congress over ‘constructive disagreements’ on certain issues between Hooda and Selja. Today, Rahul Gandhi showed it to everybody that both our senior leaders are together.”
📌 Not defensive on Priyanka: In their speeches, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, apart from other BJP leaders, have been accusing the Congress of working for “dalaals (agents)” and “damaads (sons-in-law)”. The reference was to Priyanka’s husband Robert Vadra, who faces allegations of profiteering from improper allocation of land under the Congress government led by Hooda.
“Rahul ji gave a reply to the BJP by ensuring Priyanka’s presence on the stage in Naraingarh,” a senior Congress leader said.
Priyanka last campaigned in Haryana ahead of the Lok Sabha polls when she participated in a road show in Sirsa with Selja and the then Congress MLA from Tosham, Kiran Choudhry.
📌 The route map: Gandhi’s Yatra covered Assembly segments that fall under the Ambala and Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seats. On October 1, he will hold a similar Yatra beginning from Bahadurgarh. Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda shall be with him, besides other senior Congress leaders. The Yatra shall be covering the Assembly constituencies that fall under Rohtak and Sonipat Lok Sabha seats.
A majority of these constituencies are represented by the Congress, with its sitting candidates contesting again for the October 5 polls. But Gandhi’s route also covered Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini’s previous constituency, Naraingarh, and current one, Ladwa, from where the BJP leader is contesting again.
📌 The final push: Party sources said Gandhi will hold one more Yatra, on October 3 – the last day of campaigning in Haryana. The details of the October 3 schedule are yet to be disclosed.
“Undoubtedly, the party got an immense boost after the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Haryana. The result was visible in the Lok Sabha polls… There is an immense wave in favour of the Congress and the BJP’s ouster from Haryana is imminent,” says Hooda.
