As Bharat Jodo Yatra finds unlikely friends in UP, a new spring in Congress steps, but party needs more to go the distance

The ruling BJP’s silence told its own story. Far from the usual mocking tone against an initiative by Rahul Gandhi, it watched quietly as several influential voices associated with the Ayodhya Ram Temple went out of their way to acknowledge the Congress leader’s “efforts” — both in walking and in his message of “unity”. Union Minister Amit Shah chose a rally in Tripura to indirectly get back, declaring a date for inauguration of the Ram temple, in an assertion of the BJP’s role in it.

By all accounts, even the Congress leadership was taken off-guard, with a decision taken to not react to the support coming from Ayodhya, for now. The RLD and BKU’s support also drew a measured response, with the party refraining from any comments that could be seen as it asserting its predominant position as the major Opposition party – and raise defences of the other parties jostling for that space. The voluble Jairam Ramesh, one of the main forces behind the Yatra, restricted himself to saying it had been like a “sanjivani (life giver)” for the Congress.

Sources said the party is particularly pleased about the reception of the Yatra by the minorities and Dalits. Rahul raised the issue of OBC reservation during his Yatra and engaged with several representatives belonging to the communities.

The RLD appeared to have picked up these signals better than its ally Samajwadi Party. Having been in a coalition with the Congress earlier, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was unusually harsh in his first reaction to the invite to him to join the Yatra, saying he saw no difference between the Congress and BJP. Days later though, he was generous in his praise of the march, though he did not join it, and neither did the BSP.

Sources said that the RLD is looking at the broader picture, being already aligned with the Congress in Rajasthan and thinking about a similar arrangement in Haryana – both states where the RLD has a vote bank in the form of Jats, and both states where the Congress

has a fighting chance to win elections. The RLD would have been happy with the response the Yatra – which crossed its stronghold of western UP – drew.

Among other parties which joined the Yatra in UP were the Mahan Dal, founded by OBC leader Keshav Dev Maurya, which was earlier part of the SP-Congress alliance, and the Peace Party, whose vote bank is Muslim. The BKU, a prominent face in the agitation against the farm laws, also pitched in.

But if this was the situation on the ground that the Yatra covered, its reverberations far away were much louder. The chief priest of the Ram temple, Satyendra Das, was the first to extend “blessings” to the Yatra, to which BJP Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak had a feeble response, saying Rahul touched only a few districts and was “afraid to travel through UP”.

Then, Champat Rai, general secretary of the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and ‘international vice -president of the VHP, said he appreciated Rahul for the fact that “the young man (was) travelling the country on foot despite weather adversities”. The next day, asked about the Yatra during a visit to Mumbai, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath questioned the “intent” of those undertaking it.

In private, BJP leaders admitted that they were not expecting the endorsement of it from such unexpected quarters. However, they pointed out that crowds might not mean much in the ultimate picture. “They held a kisan panchayat, which attracted crowds, but the public did not support them during the elections. Their joint rallies with Akhilesh too had attracted crowds but failed to get public support. Their ‘Ladki hoon, ladh sakti hoon‘ campaign was also popular before the 2022 polls, but people did not even see them as an option for forming the government. They have lost connect with the people and such gimmicks will not work till they have actual cadre on the ground,” a BJP leader said.

Most Congress leaders too see that as a realistic view. A senior Congress leader, who travelled with the Yatra, said: “The response that the Yatra got here was amazing. While it would certainly encourage the top leadership to spend more time in UP, which they seem to have abandoned after the 2022 Assembly polls, we are not getting our hopes up. Our biggest challenge has always been to take forward the momentum created by the senior leadership to the grass-roots.”