The Bharat Jodo Yatra led by the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi completed one month of its
march in Karnataka on October 6. With the participation of the Congress president Sonia
Gandhi, the Yatra got massive character boost, attracting thousands of men, women and
even children, as also the grassroots party workers. What was significant was the show of
unity by the two Congress factions of the state during the march, and this was made
possible by Rahul Gandhi who took former chief minister K Siddharamaiah on one side and
D K Shivkumar on the other and compelled them to beat the drum together amidst wide
applause from the marchers.
The Yatra which began on September 7 from Kanyakumari covered Tamil Nadu and Kerala
and entered Karnataka on September 30. The marchers will continue Yatra in Karnataka till
October 21. This three-week travel by the Congress workers and the common masses under
the leadership of Rahul Gandhi has special significance as the message of end to hatred
and bigotry is more relevant for this state compared to Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Rahul
Gandhi, in the course of his Yatra and the road side meetings, is continuously exposing the
BJP and the Narendra Modigovernment, explaining how the BJP and Sangh Parivar are
acting as the fomenters of communalism and fissiparous tendencies in the country, while
simultaneously destroying the longstanding institutions and the ethos of the constitution of
India.
After Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka is the second laboratory of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar’s
hate machine. In the last nearly five years of the BJP rule, this state, which was known for its
secularism and peaceful harmony between various communities, has been converted into a
free playground of the majoritarian communalism. The Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru, is
witnessing continuous harassment of its minority communities. The BJP chief minister B
Bommai who inherits a socialist past, is just carrying out the diktat of the Sangh Parivar and
their violent fringe elements. Corruption has reached a peak in the state administration and
openly, the state government is being called the“40 per cent cut government”.
The anti-incumbency is very strong against the Bommai government, but at the same time,
the ruling party BJP is exercising total mobilisation in terms of resources, while also
polarising voters along religious lines. The Congress must not only unite its leadership but
also expand its support base to take on the BJP in the state assembly elections early next
year. The Congress also has to align with the JD(S) to combat jointly the BJP challenge in
the coming Karnataka polls. That way, the three-week Bharat Jodo Yatra through Karnataka
is sure to impart a new dynamism to the Congress organisation in the state.
In fact, the Congress and the JD(S) are traditionally well positioned to defeat the BJP
comfortably in the assembly elections. In the last 2017 assembly elections, the BJP got 104
seats out of the total of 224 by getting 36.35 per cent votes whereas the Congress got 80
seats by getting much higher votes at 38.4 per cent. The JD(S) got 37 seats by recording
18.3 per cent votes. The Congress and the JD(S) formed a coalition government initially, but
the BJP organised defections through money power leading to the fall of the government
and the installation of a government belonging to the BJP and the defectors.
In the last rural bodies elections, both the Congress and the JD(S) performed better
compared to the BJP and since then, the BJP government’s acceptability has gone down. A
proper understanding between the rejuvenated state Congress and the JD(S) can beat the
BJP convincingly. The BJP central leadership has taken note of the tremendous response
aroused by the Yatra and they are worried that it will have its impact on the coming
assembly elections. Accordingly, a meeting of the state leaders were held on Friday to take
stock of the situation. Sources said that the BJP has set a target of winning 150 seats out of
the total of 224 in the next elections and the party leadership will take all steps to neutralize
the impact if any, of the Bharat Jodi Yatra on the electorate of Karnataka.
For the Congress Party, it is a positive development that the Yatra has got good response in
Karnataka, which is going to assembly polls early 2023.However, the immediate need of the
Congress is to mobilise all its resources for fighting the BJP in its strongholds Gujarat and
Himachal, where assembly polls are scheduled for November-December this year. So far,
the Congress preparedness is abysmal. In Himachal, the party is in a bad shape. Out of the
four working presidents of the state Congress, two have left and joined BJP. Early this week,
a very senior leader Suresh Chandel left the Congress and joined the BJP. No major
Congress leader campaigned in Himachal in recent weeks, while the Prime Minister
Narendra Modi himself began the election campaign this week and all senior leaders
including the BJP president J P Nadda are monitoring the BJP campaign on a daily basis.
In Himachal, in the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP got 44 seats and the Congress 21 out
of the total of 68 seats. The CPI(M) which has strength in some pockets got one seat and
two seats went to independents. The BJP secured 48.79 per cent votes while the Congress
got 41.68 percent. In the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, BJP got all four seats, but in one by-
election to the Lok Sabha, the Congress won defeating BJP. So now, BJP has three Lok
Sabha seats from Himachal while the Congress has one. The BJP state party is faction-
ridden for long but the central leadership has intervened and now the saffrons are working
jointly. The Congress has a massive task to meet the BJP challenge in Himachal in the
coming assembly polls.
As regards Gujarat, the situation for the Congress is precarious. There is no direction to the
state leaders from the high command. Nobody bothers to visit Gujarat for poll campaign. The
observer Ashok Gehlot is too busy keeping his chief minister’s seat safe in Rajasthan after
the latest fiasco over a botched party presidential poll nomination. As against this, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are visiting their home state on a
regular basis. PM will be in Gujarat for election campaigning for three days beginning
October 9. This will be followed by five yatras to be organized by the state BJP covering all
the 182 seats. AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal is visiting every week. AAP wants to replace
the Congress as the main opposition against the BJP.
The Congress did quite well in the 2017 assembly elections in Gujarat by getting 77 seats as
against BJP’s 99. But in the last five years, a large number of Congress MLAs deserted the
party and joined BJP. There is total demoralization in the Congress unit in Gujarat as the
central leaders seem to have lost all hopes of getting back Gujarat.
Bharat Jodi Yatra is fine but in the process, if the Congress gets defeated once again in
these two states that will give a big momentum to the BJP before the 2023 assembly
elections and the coming Lok Sabha polls in 2024. The Congress central leadership can only
neglect its duty in Himachal and Gujarat at its own peril. Simultaneously, it will give a big
blow to the other opposition parties who are gearing up to meet the challenge from Narendra
Modi in the 2024 polls. (IPA Service)