AMID heavy snowfall, a pheran-clad Rahul Gandhi delivered the final speech of his 4000 kilometre yatra atop an open podium at the cricket stadium to a thin but energetic audience. The atmosphere it created served as a fitting end to the yatra. Gandhi said the aim of his Bharat Jodo Yatra was to save the liberal and secular ethos of the country which, according to him, “is under assault from the BJP and the RSS.” However, he disociated from any political motive of the yatra, saying it was essentially against the BJP’s ideology.
Significantly, Gandhi was joined by major Kashmiri leaders such as Omer Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti who also delivered speeches at the culmination of the yatra. However, there were no major leaders from the prominent opposition parties in the rest of the country. So the opposition unity that the yatra was expected to usher in has so far remained unfulfilled.
Where does the Congress and Gandhi himself go from hereon? It is still difficult to answer this question with any clarity. It is true that the yatra has generated immense goodwill for Congress and Gandhi but the political ground is still far from shifting. Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to be the unstoppable and all-powerful leader, and no other national leader, let alone Gandhi, comes close.
Similarly, the BJP continues to wield total political dominance. And Congress in its current shrunken state seems no match for it. And that too at a time when the party faces tough competition even from the AAP which is trying to fill in the political space vacated by the former. With its landslide victory in Punjab last year, the AAP is on a roll. It hopes to replicate the performance in other states. Arvind Kejriwal has exhibited political smarts to get his party up and running out of nowhere.
But there is still one year to go before the general elections are held, and much can change during this period. One year is a long time in politics. As things stand, only a combined opposition could be expected to take on the BJP. Gandhi has been trying to forge opposition unity but there are only feeble indications that he has had any success in the endeavour. It won’t be easy to bring all the opposition parties together on one platform, more so, with several regional leaders nursing their personal ambitions. But for now Congress can take heart from the Gandhi’s successful yatra and hope to build on it.
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