A year can be a long time in politics. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, which concluded in January last year, had been credited with resurrecting public support for the Congress. Some would argue that there were political dividends as well, in the form of the Congress’s triumph in Karnataka and, later, in Telangana. But one year later, as Mr Gandhi prepares to begin the Bharat Nyay Yatra, the Congress is staring at formidable challenges on the political front. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s stupendous triumphs in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan dented the Congress’s hopes of an electoral revival in the general elections that will take place this year and have also led to uncomfortable questions about the limited appeal of the party and its vision in swathes of the country that remain critical to India’s electoral math. The BNY, it appears, has been designed with these daunting realities in mind. It is set to crisscross states that contribute a sizeable number of Lok Sabha seats and Mr Gandhi will be hoping to strike a chord with the electorate in over 350 constituencies to help revive the Congress’s electoral fortunes. Mr Gandhi’s choice of Manipur — a state that has been plagued by ethnic violence and the BJP’s indifference — as the starting point of the BNY perhaps conveys this point. There seems to be an attempt to curate a different message as well. While the BJY emphasised addressing the fault lines created by the BJP’s polarising politics, the BNY is being hoisted upon the plank of social justice. The demands for a caste census, welfarism and equitable representation are likely to be central issues as Mr Gandhi strives to make the Yatra more responsive to electoral imperatives.

The people’s response to the BNY remains to be seen. Whether Mr Gandhi’s outreach yields political dividends also remains a matter of conjecture. But what is certain is that for the Yatra to succeed, it must shed the pretence of being an apolitical, therapeutic exercise. The Congress must envision the initiative as an unambiguous political engagement that is meant to convey to the people of India the importance of an alternative vision of governance for the country. Any diffidence on this count will make the party cede ground in the battle of perception and further demoralise its dwindling cadre.