Indian National Congress Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi entered Jharkhand on the afternoon of 02 February, yatra entered through the Pakur district in the state from west Bengal. After heavy political drama in the state’s capital Ranchi, Champai Soren finally was sworn in as the chief minister of Jharkhand yesterday, the same day the yatra also reached into the state, joined by him in Pakur. ‘The yatra is aimed to ensure justice to people of the state’ told by Jharkhand congress president Rajesh Thakur to PTI. In two phases, Yatra will cover an 804 km distance in 13 state districts of Jharkhand.
Route Map of Congress Nyay Yatra
Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will travel across 6713 km covering 100 Lok Sabha and 337 legislative assembly constituencies. It will pass on through 15 States namely, Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra for around 66 days. The Nyay Yatra will have its maximum duration in the state of Uttar Pradesh where it will travel for 1074 km across 20 districts, including politically vital areas of Amethi, Raebareli (bastion of Gandhi Parivar), and Varanasi. Congress party has initiated a crowdfunding program named ‘donate for Nyay’ to mobilize the funds for Yatra.
Image Source: India Today
Aim of Congress Nyay Yatra
The tagline for yatra is ‘Nyay ka, Haq Milne Tak’. Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra which is the 2.0 version of Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Yatra was started on 14th of January 2024 from the state of Manipur and is expected to end on 20th March 2024 in Mumbai. Bharat Jodo Yatra Has benefited the Congress Party, especially Rahul Gandhi to rebrand its image within the public. As far as the political gains are concerned from Bharat Jodo Yatra the party has not gained much except in South India. Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’s political aim is to highlight the Modi government’s failure and gain electoral benefits for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
According to the Congress party, the priority of the Yatra is to Pursue social economic, and political justice for the nation’s citizens. Congress party has deliberately chosen Manipur as the starting point of the Yatra because they wanted to highlight the failure of the Modi government to tackle the situation of ethnic conflict between Kuki and Meitei communities, repercussions of which led to the death of over 200 individuals. According to the sources in Congress, Rahul Gandhi will take up the matters of unemployment and inflation during his Nyay Yatra as a major issue for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the party believes that these two factors will have a major impact on results.
Reactions to Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra
Bhartiya Janata Party, claims that the Modi government has been delivering ‘real Nyay’ justice to the people since 2014, launching an attack on Rahul Gandhi BJP argued that Indian citizens cannot be deceived by creating catchy slogans.
Well-known political strategist and founder Jan Suraj Yatra Prashant Kishore has stated that for Congress and Rahul Gandhi, it’s time to be in headquarters to Strategies for Lok Sabha elections 2024 not on the field. But the reverse the Congress Party and its leaders are doing. It is too late to do yatra as the Lok Sabha elections are around the corner.
Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra so far
Since the start of the Congress Nyay Yatra on January 14 2024 it has been not able to catch the attraction of the audience like the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The first reason could be the timing of the Yatra, it is high time where other parties go for an election campaign and select their candidates, Congress party which is the leading opposition party is doing Yatra. second, the starting point of the Yatra is Manipur and northeast India, as far as the Lok Sabha election is concerned the Northeastern states constituted a very small number of seats, and traveling such a long distance in these states would be less productive for Congress in upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
conclusion
On one side Congress is trying to frame an alternative opposition block and making all possible attempts to form an INDIA block against the BJP-led NDA government, but on the other side Congress is doing its Yatra alone, since the formation of INDIA bloc the constituent parties have not done even single political rally together. This shows no chemistry and coordination between the parties of the INDIA bloc, and it points out that either the Congress party is confused or reluctant to form any alternative bloc. still, the Yatra has yet to travel from northern India. will the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi be able to catch the voter’s mind? it will be interesting to see, what happens.