The Congress launched the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Manipur on January 14, with the goal of combating injustices such as unemployment, inflation, the rich-poor divide, and farmer difficulties, and hopes to be as effective and revolutionary as the previous almost 4,000-kilometer Bharat Jodo Yatra. Last year, Congress organized a Bharat Jodo yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir to bring the country together across cultures, faiths, and languages. After one year, let’s evaluate the performance of the Bharat Jodo Yatra and its influence on India’s unity, fraternity, and integrity.
India with congress has always followed and upheld the ideals of Justice, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity since before independence, but in the last 10 years, the present BJP administration has destroyed all that in our beautiful the nation of India. Following the creation of the BJP government, India’s key democratic structure has been under serious attack, and the country’s people have been forced to stay impoverished, hungry, and unemployed as a result of terrible economic policies. Like historical so-called democratic dictators, BJP leaders promoted fake nationalism, indoctrinated people by preaching the idea of false religious superiority, and rose to power. The current government’s apathy can be gauged by the fact that, while the country is troubled by all of its current issues, it continued to deprive the population of even the right to speak their minds by using different government organizations in a constitutionally invalid and unethical way. As the BJP rapidly undermining constitutional ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity, India urgently needs an alternative politics that can give the fabric of our life purpose.
Vision of Bharat Jodo Yatra
Bharat Jodo Yatra had a broader objective to reclaim the nation’s spirit, including opportunities for widespread engagement in political discussion and the diverse cultures that form the fabric of our nationhood. From the pre-independence era, the padayatra has been the language of protest along with communication, acting as a vehicle for raising awareness and bringing pressing concerns to the forefront of political discourse. Bharat Jodo Yatra was a mass padayatra organized by the Indian National Congress, with senior congress leader Rahul Gandhi orchestrating the movement through encouraging party cadre and the general public to walk 4,080 kilometers from Kanyakumari in southern India to the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir in nearly for a 150-day period. The Yatra made an effort to shift Indian politics away from a game of electoral statistics and toward a more nuanced, deliberative environment, one that tries to resurrect essential principles of citizenship like as social solidarity, collective identity, and a feeling of heterogeneous mutual respect. The most important objective of the movement was to fight the politics of fear, bigotry, and prejudice, as well as the financial impacts of livelihood destruction, rising unemployment, and expanding disparities in wealth. The present-day Bharat Jodo Naya Yatra is the second movement in this series, aimed at connecting people and bringing all Indians together behind the values of the national flag, which represent unity in diversity.
Achievements of Bharat Jodo Yatra
The last year’s Bharat Jodo Yatra has been hailed as the Congress Party’s largest mass contact effort since Independence, as well as an important turning point in Indian politics. Rahul Gandhi has emphasized three major problems during the Bharat Jodo Yatra i.e., rising wealth disparity, expanding social division, and growing political oppression and dictatorship. The very first important point to make in this respect is that the whole yatra and its design were inevitably strongly influenced by the Indian tradition of ‘Padyatra’. The yatra was a kind of Satyagraha, with the goal of uniting Indians by appealing to their belief in humanity, brotherhood, peace, and feelings of empathy. Furthermore, the movement also alerted every one of their obligations to fight for these principles, even if it meant enduring the misery that comes with a mission like this. The overwhelming popularity of this Yatra has led many to believe that the animosity fostered by the BJP in society and the country is harmful to each individual. The yatra has also given Indians motivation to think again about their social practices in terms of constitutional principles.
The universal ideals of Bharat Jodo Yatra included the concept of India, national unity and integrity, and Sarva Dharma Sambhav, which evokes feelings such as hope, love, and commitment. While BJP dictatorship has produced a political framework that aims to remove ethical issues, the Bharat Jodo Yatra has had a positive influence on the minds and emotions of the people of India, transforming into a living slogan for countless Indians. It additionally served to remind us that the political process does not end with elections; it goes on in the hearts and minds of citizens who participate in the daily politics of the idea of nationhood. As the journey progressed from village to city to state, it probed the consciousness of the Indian people, revealing that this yatra was developed as an alternative to democratic discussion. India’s ranking in the World Indices has continuously deteriorated as a result of the current regime’s incapability and flawed administrative policies. In such a circumstance, the Bharat Jodo Yatra has evolved as an initiative in which people’s grievances, the voice of the rights they have, and the voices of unrest or discontent against the current administration can be heard and respected. The viewpoints of individuals and communities who have been sidelined by the mainstream media for years are now being rightly captured through the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.
The most significant point is that this yatra traveled through several towns and states in India, and when it reached to its different destinations, the Bharat Jodo Yatris got chance to experience different culture of India with an accurate representation of India in their minds. The journey took the shape of a manifesto of Indian people’s dreams, and will ultimately decide the country’s social, political, and economic future. This yatra also proved to be effective in demonstrating its morality in a spontaneous manner, and it has undoubtedly evolved into an ethical politically active movement. It had attracted people from all walks of life, including former bureaucrats and government officials, members of civil society activists, media persons, army veterans, politicians, and, most importantly, passionate ordinary Indians. The yatra also additionally featured many extra ordinary individuals in its progress, all filled over with energy and excitement. During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Indian National Congress elected a new party president and secured an overwhelming majority in the state of Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election of 2022.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra additionally spoke out against concerns like as price increases, unemployment, increased economic disparity, polarization, and poor center-state ties. As Rahul Gandhi was having discussions with people, the country’s inept politicians and Godi media were feeling unsafe, so they employed an online propaganda army to attack the Bharat Jodo Yatra and individuals who spoke out against the government by altering old videos out of context and presenting them as an entirely distinct story. Many attempts were made to damage the Yatra’s reputation and make it an object of ridicule, ranging from a hired troll army to paid Godi media, by clipping Yatra videos and spreading false narratives about it. Despite persistent attacks, Congress along with Rahul Gandhi calmly and gracefully revealed their falsehoods and dishonesty. The Bharat Jodo Movement is without a doubt one of the most successful movements in Indian history, having individuals from all walks of life involved in the Yatra.
Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra for Better Future
The present outrage of BJP leaders and Godi media demonstrates the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra Series in pushing the topics of misgovernance, unemployment, and inflation to the forefront of public debate. The current government has completely failed to bring down inflation, and the gap between wealthy people and poor is expanding as a result of the BJP administration’s flawed policies. Everyone in the country, even women and children, feels frightened of the country’s poisoned communal atmosphere because the current leadership only knows the divide and rule policy used by the British in order to exploit the poor and benefit their allies. Institutions such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax department (IT), Election Commission (EC), Police Department, Civil Services, and Judicial Systems are also being destroyed by amending the constitution and putting favorable individuals in high positions.
As the 2024 begins, it is important to make an opportunity for an alternative politics, the politics of the people, and to guarantee that continues to exist. This could be the sole means by which India’s disadvantaged groups would have the resolve to exercise their constitutional right to fully take part in the establishment of our nation’s future. In this regard, Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, following the success of Bharat Jodo Yatra, would undoubtedly be a game changer for India. If you share our vision for India, let’s walk together to create the India of our dreams. Join the nation-building movement and become the face of change.