New Delhi: The Bharat Jodo Yatra has exposed the BJP’s fault lines and put pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who skipped the crucial climate change conference in Egypt and is busy campaigning in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said on Monday.
“The yatra is an unprecedented mobilization of people throughout the country, particularly from the streets that Rahul Gandhi is passing through. The political implications of the yatra can be seen in that the PM did not go to the COP conference in Egypt. He has been to every such summit in the past. He went to Paris…to Sheffield. The COP conference is very important for India.
We are the third largest polluter. India stands to get a lot of international funding for green technologies but he has chosen not to go. Every PM has domestic problems. The UK PM Rishi Sunak had his own problems and he refused to go but under public pressure, he has gone to Egypt. But our PM is campaigning in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. So, there is something different this time,” Prithviraj Chavan told ETV Bharat in an exclusive interview.
“There is general anger against the handling of the economy by PM Modi. There are issues like unemployment and price rise. There is overall huge dissatisfaction with the way the country is being run. The farmers are facing huge problems and there is political instability. The way the BJP is doing its politics, particularly what happened in Maharashtra and before that in Karnataka, Goa, and Madhya Pradesh.
The people have seen through the BJP and realize that they have failed to deliver. There is huge anger against the BJP in Gujarat and Himachal. The issues that Rahul Gandhi is highlighting are reverberating with the people. The PM is worried,” he said.
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The Congress veteran’s remarks came on a day the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra will enter the western state on Monday night after having traversed through Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, where it received a huge public response. According to the Congress veteran, who had served as a junior minister in the office of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Bharat Jodo Yatra is not directly political but the Congress will get indirect benefits.
“We are all reaching Nanded to welcome Rahul Gandhi. Former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, former Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, state unit chief Nana Patole, former CLP leader Balasaheb Thorat, myself, and all the top state leaders will be there to welcome Rahul Gandhi at Nanded. The yatra starts tomorrow from Deglur,” said Chavan.
“On the one hand, the yatra is being projected as a Tiranga yatra, the Congress is only coordinating it. All like-minded people who are concerned about the future of Indian democracy are joining it. On the other hand, the entire Congress rank and file has been mobilized as never before. In Maharashtra, workers from all the 16 Congress organizational districts will join the yatra,” said Chavan.
“The NGOs are also joining the yatra. Some prominent personalities from Maharashtra will also join the yatra. Our leaders have invited the allies NCP and Shiv Sena and their senior leaders are expected to join the yatra,” he said.
Interestingly, the yatra will enter Maharashtra a day after the Shiv Sena- Uddhav Thackeray faction candidate backed by the Congress defeated the nominee of the ruling Shiv Sena- Eknath Shinde faction and BJP combine in the crucial Andheri East assembly by-poll. The ruling combine had urged the voters to press for the None of the Above (NOTA) voting option but even that did not help the ruling coalition.
According to Chavan, the Andheri East assembly by-poll defeat on Sunday has left the ruling Sena-BJP combine worried as the people did not like the way they had engineered defections in the Shiv Sena- Uddhav Thackeray faction and formed the government with the help of the BJP.
As a result, the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by former Chief Minister Udhhav Thackeray was ousted in July after being in power since 2019. “They brought down the MVA government through the brute power of money. The people did not like it. The by-poll has shown they are worried. They have not been able to expand the cabinet. There are around 20 ministerial berths vacant. They have also not been able to nominate 12 members to the Legislative Council. There are some legal issues involved and they fear that 16 MLA may be disqualified by the top court,” said Chavan.
“Hence, all those who want to save Indian democracy are supporting the yatra. They may not be supporters of the Congress party but the central theme of the yatra is to reunite the country against the BJP’s hate politics. The good part is that the message of the yatra is bringing people together,” he added.
