Why Bharat Jodo Yatra is not enough

All footwork, no good shots

Congress spokespersons would have us believe that the Bharat Jodo Yatra has unhinged the ‘hatemongers’. They cite RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s visit to a mosque and Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur’s denunciation of mainstream TV channels—”a part of their own hate machine”—for inviting panellists who “polarise and spread false narratives” as proof of the yatra’s ‘love storm’ throwing them into a state of disconcertment. “They are making such moves just as we have begun,” the spokespersons chuckle. “Let us see what they do by the time we finish.”

You cannot blame Congresspersons for being joyous and excited about the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Their leader Rahul Gandhi has burst out of a three-year quasi-withdrawal, at last answering their prayers that seemed to be stretching, driving them into pessimism. In their ecstasy, they are seeing him as an Angel of Love who will bring an end to the ‘regime of hate’. An increasing number of liberals, including many who have been critics of the Congress, are also charmed and enthused by the ‘Walking Gandhi’ who is hugging ordinary folks along the yatra route.

Really? Will Rahul’s 3500-km journey through 12 states trigger an earthquake that would turn Modi’s political edifice into rubble? The Congresspersons are fooling themselves.

First of all, it is a yatra. It is not a movement at the grassroots level. The yatris pass through towns or villages, talk to appointed local people at appointed places, and move on. Except for making local party workers feel reanimated, little changes. It does not seriously affect the electoral matrix Modi’s BJP has built for itself in the past eight years.

Secondly, the call of the yatra—Indians of all castes and creeds, unite against divisive forces!—alone may not help the Congress win back the voters who have deserted it and migrated to the BJP under the Modi spell. The fight with Modi’s BJP is no longer simply love versus hate. It is far more complex.

Also Read | Can a rebellion save the Congress?

True, Modi has infused an alarming amount of religion into politics. He frequently goes to Hindu temples. His government is openly partisan to the Hindu faith. It punishes Muslims and forgives Hindus for similar crimes. Muslims are subjected to violence and discrimination under his regime. Yet he wins. Why?

For, although liberals see Modi as the king of hatemongers, a large number of Hindu Indians do not see him that way. And they belong to a cross-section of society—lower castes, middle castes and upper castes. To them, he is a bringer of good things.

Post-poll surveys in the past eight years have shown a rising graph of lower caste vote for Modi. Large numbers of Dalits and OBCs are voting for him because he has given them a house, free rations, a toilet, electricity, pension, health insurance, and easy credit for doing small business.

They are not voting for him for economic reasons alone. They are also doing it for psychological reasons. Every low caste has a hero who according to their legends defeated or valiantly fought the British colonialists, Muslim invaders, or upper caste oppressors, in the past. The hero is revered by them and is a symbol of their collective pride.

The BJP has adopted a clever strategy to pander to their collective pride by idolising their heroes. To cite a few instances from UP: It has named a state armed constabulary battalion after Jhalkari Bai, an icon of the Kolis, who fought the British alongside the Rani of Jhansi. It has built a huge memorial to Lakhan Pasi, who is revered by the Pasis as their king who ruled Lakhanpur (today’s Lucknow) and fought Muslim invaders. It has built statues of Suheldev, the Rajbhar hero who defeated the nephew of Mahmud of Ghazni.

They are voting for him for political reasons, too. Modi’s BJP is distributing more political offices—in the party organisation, panchayats, municipalities, assemblies, parliament and the ministries—among them than the Congress and other parties. It has expanded their representation further by forging alliances with small parties that are vehicles of their political expression.

On top of that, there are religious reasons why the BJP is getting their votes. The lower castes are no less ardent Hindus than the upper castes. As a matter of fact, due to poverty and illiteracy, they are more ardent than the upper castes. They vote for Modi because they see him as the restorer of Hindu glory.

How has the Congress tried so far to win back the vast masses charmed by Modi distributing gifts in religious wrapping? It has mainly done so by making efforts to prove that the Congress is as much Hindu as the BJP is. It has done it in two ways. One, party leaders have used every occasion to make a public demonstration of their Hindu-ness. Two, the party has avoided raising or fighting for what are seemingly ‘Muslim’ issues, such as hijab and Gyanvapi mosque.

Neither tactic has worked. The Congress needs to abandon them. It is foolish and suicidal for it to compete with the BJP on Hindu-ness. It will lose both Hindus and Muslims that way.

The best strategy for the Congress would be to turn the Bharat Jodo Yatra into a Bharat Jodo Andolan. The call for communal harmony and national unity has significant traction. There are more Hindus in India than there are with Modi today who staunchly stand for peaceful, warm and mutually beneficial co-existence of Hindus, Muslims and other communities. However, if the Congress has to win back the Hindus who are currently under the Modi spell, it has to not just lead a Bharat Jodo Andolan but do much more.

We are in an era of transactional politics. Voters want to know from political parties what they are giving them before making their choice. The Congress cannot displace the BJP without reworking its strategies to offer the subalterns greater political and economic benefits. It has to think what it can give them that the BJP is not giving them, and how it would do so (eg, employment, secure jobs, decent income).

The Congress must emphasise economic and political issues. People will start moving away from the BJP, despite its pro-Hindu image, once they realise that the economic and political benefits distributed by it are small and illusory and those offered by the Congress look bigger and lasting. Religion is no answer to the aspiration for material progress.

(The writer is an independent journalist and author)