New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi’s two nationwide yatras over the past two years helped establish him as the undisputed leader of the Congress, charged up party workers across the country and prepared the ground for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, All India Congress Committee (AICC) functionaries said on Sunday.
The first yatra started on September 7, 2022 from Kanyakumari in the south and ended at Srinagar in the north on January 30, 2023 after covering 4,500 km and passing through 76 districts across 12 states.
The yatra 2.0 started from Manipur in the north-east on January 14, 2024 culminated at Mumbai in the west on March 16, 2024 after covering 6,700 km and passing through 106 districts across 14 states.
The second yatra concluded on the day the Election Commission announced the schedule for the April-May national polls. A day later, Congress leaders counted the gains from the two biggest mass movements undertaken by any party leader so far.
“The first one called the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' was aimed at uniting people and spreading the message of peace and love. The second one called 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' aimed at spreading the message of social justice,” AICC general secretary in charge of Manipur, Girish Chodankar told ETV Bharat.
Since Rahul Gandhi led the two yatras, the public contact programmes have established him as the undisputed leader of the party, he claimed. The yatras proved his mental and physical strengths Chodankar told.
The yatras, said the AICC functionary, helped the grand old party take its message directly to the people and get their feedback as Congress was not being adequately represented in the mainstream media.
“Rahul Gandhi mixed with the commoners and spoke to them directly. He got first hand information about the issues that were affecting the common people. This interaction threw up several campaign ideas. The people also got an opportunity to see the actual person that he is. As a result, the negative perception the BJP had built around our leader after spending thousands of crores of rupees was shattered,” said Chodankar.
According to AICC communications head Jairam Ramesh, in total, Rahul Gandhi covered around 181 districts across the country during the two yatras. “It is no mean feat. During the yatras he met lakhs of people and touched their lives,” said Ramesh.
Even as the AICC functionaries counted the benefits from the yatras, they were cautious in describing them as social programmes and not political ones.
“The purpose of the two yatras was to create awareness among the people about the social injustice being meted out at the hands of the BJP. However, the outcomes of the yatras could be political in terms of electoral gains. However, that would depend on how voters respond to the yatras,” said Chodankar.
The workers who were lying low after a series of poll defeats have now charged up, said AICC spokesperson and senior UP leader Akhilesh Pratap Singh to ETV Bharat. "This would certainly help the party during the Lok Sabha poll campaign as well,” he added.
The first yatra had spent just three days in western parts of UP but the second yatra which spent around 9 days in the state has revived the party, said Singh, a Lok Sabha ticket aspirant. He added, "I can sense that as I interact with the locals.”
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