Religious polarisation, Centre-State relations, imposition of language, and privatisation of public sector undertakings will be among the key issues taken up by the ‘ Bharat Jodo (unite India) yatra’ that will seek to rope in civil society activists who were earlier involved in Congress president Sonia Gandhi-led the National Advisory Council (NAC), a senior leader said on Thursday.
The details of the yatra, which will begin from Kanyakumari on October 2, are still being worked out, but it is clear that the Congress plans to use it as platform to bring together “like-minded political forces” including NGOs, public intellectuals, and faculty members of universities.
From Kanyakumari to Kashmir, the yatra is expected to cover 3,500 km across 12 States and would continue for five to six months. All the top leaders, including former party chief Rahul Gandhi, will launch the yatra, which will mostly be covered on foot and in some places on vehicles.
Whether existing or potential allies will be a part of the yatra is yet to be decided. Asked if it was a reflection of Mr. Gandhi’s comment that regional parties don’t have the ideology to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nationally, the Congress leader said, “We will definitely have pre-poll alliances in the States but being in alliance does not mean we have taken VRS (voluntary retirement from service) in that State.”
The yatra move is seen as an attempt by the party to reconnect with the masses ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. A padayatra by the late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy in 2003 to cover 1,500 km in undivided Andhra Pradesh, and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh’s Narmada Parikrama yatra before the 2018 Assembly polls paid rich dividends for the Congress in these States.
Along the route of the Bharat Jodo yatra, the leader said that the Congress will organise public meetings in several States to create “public awareness about the designs of the BJP to divide the country on religious lines and polarise the electorate”.
“In one way, the Bharat Jodo yatra will be the Samvidhan Bachao (save the Constitution) yatra, secularism bachao (save), public sector bachao,” the source cited above said, adding that a separate panel will work out the detailed programme.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, and Mr. Gandhi, will also meet 70 working presidents of State units and Ministers of party-ruled States, besides some party spokespersons who were left out at the Udaipur meet, in a separate day-long meet.
The party is also moving ahead on setting up a task force to implement the key recommendations of the Udaipur conclave, a political advisory group from the Congress Working Committee and integrated communication department, the source said.
