The Congress on Thursday decided to go the whole hog in strengthening Opposition combine INDIA and spare no pains in ensuring the success of the upcoming Nyay Yatra that it views as a vital instrument of political mobilisation before the 2024 parliamentary elections.
A meeting of office-bearers, including general secretaries, state chiefs and party chief ministers, whole-heartedly endorsed the INDIA experiment, arguing that there should be no shortcoming in strengthening the coalition from the party’s side. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also referred to INDIA meetings and the plan for joint rallies, apart from the need for flexibility in the seat-sharing exercise.
The National Alliance Committee handling seat-sharing negotiations also discussed the roadmap with party president Kharge on Thursday evening. Party communications chief Jairam Ramesh invited INDIA partners and civil society organisations to join the Nyay Yatra starting January 14.
The yatra will cover 15 states now as Arunachal Pradesh has been added to the original schedule.
Bowing to the sentiment at Thursday’s meeting, the yatra was renamed as Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra because most senior leaders felt the legacy, goodwill and brand value of the Bharat Jodo Yatra should be used for the second part of the mass contact programme. The Nyay Yatra will cover 6,713km across 110 districts in 15 states in a span of 66 days (Map tweeted by Congress on right). Though most of the journey will be covered by bus, Rahul Gandhi will walk at least 7-8km and address at least two meetings every day.
While the yatra will cover 107km in Manipur in a day and 257km in two days in Nagaland, it will spend eight days in Assam to traverse 833km. Arunachal and Meghalaya will get one day each but the yatra will spend five days in Bengal to cover 523km across seven districts. Bihar will get four days, Jharkhand eight days and Odisha four days. The yatra will remain in the biggest state of Uttar Pradesh for 11 days, covering 1,074km. Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat will get seven and five days, respectively, while Rajasthan will get just one day. The yatra will culminate in Maharashtra where it will spend five days.
The meeting also stressed the need for a strong communication strategy and decided that Rahul would talk about the alternative vision of INDIA during the Nyay Yatra. “The attempt will be to create a positive narrative on how to secure justice for every section of society in the country,” Ramesh said.
Addressing the office-bearers’ meeting, Kharge said the Modi government passed laws without consultation and debate in the just-concluded winter session of Parliament and the outcome was already visible in the form of protests and opposition across the country. He also said the BJP was highlighting emotive issues to hide its failures, requesting the Congress to expose the ruling party’s “lies and duplicity”. “They act irresponsibly on issues of great national importance,” he lamented.
Andhra boost
The Congress on Thursday received a shot in the arm in Andhra Pradesh as Y.S. Sharmila, the daughter of former chief minister and founder of YSR Telangana Party Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, joined the party. She also announced the merger of her YSR Telangana Congress with the Congress and said she would fulfil any responsibility given to her. She joined the Congress in the presence of party chief Kharge and former party president Rahul.
Lauding the Congress, Sharmila said it was the largest secular party in the country and served all communities and united all sections of people. Sharmila is the younger sister of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. She said it was her father’s dream to see Rahul as Prime Minister and she would be happy to contribute to such a possibility. The Congress has been decimated in Andhra after the creation of Telangana.
