The enduring image of the Mahatma for generations of Indians has been the man with that hobble of a walk and multitudes following. At 60 he walked from Sabarmati to Dandi, 385 kilometres or so, billowing with more and more supporters with every stop, to register his protest against the salt tax. In 1946, an even older Gandhi walked through riot-torn Noakhali, barefoot, for harmony. And yet you might say that after 75 years of a hard-fought Independence, the performative power of the walk means little to thousands of young Indians. Year upon year, surveys and such reveal that Gandhi himself is but a blur, never mind his walks. Who knows, after the BJP’s robust campaign against the Congress’s Rahul Gandhi for embarking on the Bharat Jodo padayatra in a 40k branded T-shirt, it is a matter of time before history texts replace the triumph of the Dandi March with a chapter on the Dandy March!
Dandy March?
Mr Gandhi’s padayatra is, of course, a different genre of the political walk. Of course, it is self-serving. It is about resuscitating the Congress party. There is also this thought that it is a deliberate walk away from a certain version of the Congress. And yes, all those places he is not walking through, do not make sense. Catcalls such as the CPM’s “Bharat Jodo or Seat Jodo” do. There is a good chance that this will be another great opportunity the Congress will be unable to mine, while a big-vision rival party will launch an app, a patrioticmeter, which you will be required to download and walk. The more you walk through India, the higher you will score; a walk through a BJP-ruled state will fetch you more points at work, at banks, some cryptocurrency etc., etc.
Swami and the walkers
You will remember that in the initial days of the Bharat Jodo walk, the BJP’s Amit Malviya tweeted disparagingly about it not having “a single visit to a Hindu temple or institution”. By omission, was he dissing an event that has just the people of the country on a politician’s itinerary? If Parliament is the temple of democracy, then by that logic, wouldn’t democracy and its constituting elements count as holies? Smriti Irani thundered, “Today I want to ask the Congress party, if you are embarking on a ‘yatra’ from Kanyakumari to unify India, at least don’t be so shameless as to have ignored Swami Vivekananda.” Even if Ms Irani believes that Vivekananda is just a statue in Kanyakumari, is it possible that she seriously thinks that all the people of India believe he is just a statue in Kanyakumari? The accusations have continued — why is he walking with a girl in a hijab, why was he with a Christian pastor, why was he walking with children, why, why, why. One thing is increasingly obvious, especially going by the raucous reaction --- the power of the walk cannot be discounted. It is perhaps not so much Mr Gandhi but the sight of ordinary citizens joining in that is unsettling. Perhaps from where these politicians are, this walking looks a lot like waking.
