The Nyay Yatra that started from Manipur on Sunday largely reflects the Congress’s interpretation of Narendra Modi’s failures. The party leadership believes that most of the injustice inflicted on various segments of society has resulted from the Prime Minister’s conscious choices and flawed policies.
While the Congress had described the now-revoked farm laws as a planned attack on farmers, aimed at handing over the agriculture business to crony capitalists, Rahul Gandhi has unwaveringly maintained that the demonetisation was designed to strike a lethal blow to the unorganised sector and the informal economy.
The party has also criticised other Modi decisions such as the half-baked GST, unplanned Covid lockdowns and exorbitant prices of petroleum products, as well as his apathy towards small enterprises that has choked job creation.
The Congress also believes that the concept of injustice — the focus of the Nyay Yatra — defines Modi’s approach to Manipur.
The ethnic violence began in Manipur last May but Modi refused to visit the state although he roamed the world and India — from New York, Dubai and Papua New Guinea to Lakshadweep, and to various states to campaign for Assembly elections.
Kanhaiya Kumar emphasised this message while addressing a news conference in the course of the Nyay Yatra. “Don’t reduce politics to mere elections; justice is not about the number of seats and votes,” he said.
“Modi is already victorious: he has 303 (Lok Sabha) seats, he has an aircraft worth Rs 8,500 crore, a car worth Rs 15 crore, a Rs 10-lakh suit, SPG protection… but he didn’t come to Manipur. Mahatma Gandhi didn’t fight elections but he fought for justice.”
Kanhaiya went on: “Somebody has to fight for justice. Even BJP supporters need justice. Everybody needs relief from the injustice of high prices and unemployment, from other social, economic and political injustices.”
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has posted a video that narrates how Modi perpetrated injustice against the people by failing to create job opportunities and by pursuing policies that caused the incomes of the poor and the middle class to fall.
Kharge said: “The Prime Minister remembered tribal welfare today after 10 years because of elections. We want to ask three questions: Why have crimes against the Scheduled Tribes increased by 48.15 per cent since 2013?
“Why have BJP governments failed to implement the Forest Rights Act? Why has the expenditure under the Development Scheme for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups of the ministry of tribal (affairs) gone down?”
