Critics say it's a bad strategy to not cover election-bound Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in the yatra. Congress argues it wants to consolidate the existing voter base.

The Congress began its Kanyakumari to Kashmir ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ on 7 September with over 100 yatris, including former party president Rahul Gandhi, setting off on the ostensible long nationwide march.

The yatra — the largest mass outreach programme of its kind by the Congress in recent times — comes at a time when the party faces a slew of questions that need urgent, difficult answers. Answers that may decide its future over the next few years, especially in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

And that is why, Bharat Jodo Yatra is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.

What are these critical questions that the Congress needs to answer? Let’s take a look. 

 The Rahul Gandhi conundrum  

Taking questions from the press on Friday, Rahul Gandhi made it “very clear” that he was “not leading” the padyatra. He also refused to answer whether he will be a candidate in the Congress’ presidential election, nominations for which start later this month.

“You like to focus on me and that’s a different issue. I’m not leading this padyatra. I’m participating in this padyatra,” Gandhi told reporters.

To another question, he said: “Whether I become president or don’t become president, this will become very clear when the presidential election takes place in the Congress party.”

He, however, said that he has “very clearly decided” what he is going to do.

This begs several questions.

First, if Rahul Gandhi is participating in the yatra simply as a party MP, why has the party’s communication team inundated the phones of journalists with pictures of only him since the yatra began? Where are the Congress’ other parliamentarians?

Second, if Gandhi isn’t putting himself up as a choice for the post of party president, shouldn’t the Congress spend its resources on establishing the new leader? Otherwise, as a G-23 leader remarked privately, it’ll be a “branding exercise” for a “bombed brand”.

Third, if this is indeed Rahul’s “re-launch”, then the Congress should spell it out, considering many critics, including the party’s dissident G-23 group, have pointed out the need for a strong and visible leadership.Gandhi, however, said that for him, this will be as much a “personal journey” as a political one.“I agreed to join this yatra partially because I believe in the ideals of the Congress party and I think that it’s important that those ideals are spread in the country. And partially because I thought this would be a very good experience for me personally.

I think it’s a powerful thing to do, not just from the political standpoint but from a personal standpoint. And I thought it would be worthwhile to do that from a personal journey perspective…Hopefully I will get some understanding about myself and some understanding about this beautiful country from this yatra. And I think two-three-four months later, I will be a little wiser,” Gandhi said.

 Who is the yatra for? 

Even before the yatra commenced, there were many rumblings in the party about “civil society members” participating in it, including activists such as Yogendra Yadav.Many Congress workers are disgruntled with Yadav, once an aggressive critic of the party, and were against allowing him to play such a prominent role in the yatra.As per sources, it is Yadav and others who are acting as the intermediaries between the Congress yatra participants and the civil society in the places that the yatra is passing through.The Congress will have to bear in mind two things in such a scenario. First, that the people it reaches out to may not all be Congress voters or turn into one after this outreach. Second, the party workers must not feel alienated by Rahul and his ‘coterie’, which, for the purposes of the Yatra, includes Yadav and co. 

The yatra and 2024

The most asked question — in both party circles and outside — is whether the yatra will cause incremental gains for the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Will this long march cause a dent in Narendra Modi and the BJP’s armour?The yatra looks to cover 60 Lok Sabha constituencies. While the response to the yatra is expected to be great in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala (24 of its 53 MPs in Lok Sabha presently are from these three states), the party’s real test will start as it moves northwards.

It is in the North Indian states that the party needs to win back its electorate. While the yatra will spend a considerable number of days in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab (where it is the principal opposition), and Rajasthan (where it is in power), it will spend very little time in states like Uttar Pradesh where it is a marginal force. It is also be giving states like Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh — where elections are slated for later this year — a miss.While critics say this is a bad strategy, the strategists within the Congress say that they’re trying to consolidate their existing voter base.How will that play out? Well, as Gandhi says, we’ll all be a little wiser after 150 days.

Modi's emphasis on 'kartavya' puts the monkey on citizen’s back, by shifting definition of constitutional state from govt’s duties to citizen. It’s central to his political proposition.

महाकवि डाॅ हरिवंशराय बच्चन

बहु तरूबर हवज से फहराना।

 बहु पत्र-पत्रो के लहराना।

पड़ गया सूर्य क्या ठंडा हिम के पात्ते से

 प्रभु पाहि देष प्रभुषहि जाति स्त्रुर के मन को

 Hindu, The very famous word nowadays got its origin from the name of river “Sindhu”. Persian found it difficult to pronounce ‘S’ ,called it Hindu. With the Muslim invasion this Persian name returned in the form of Hindustan and those reside here following the old culture and religion came to known as Hindus.Taking into account of Hindus kings, there were several but Gupta period is considered as the Golden age. Dashavtara temple of Deogarh is one of the earliest temple that still survived and has a Panchaytan style architecture. It also served as prototype of Sarvotbhadra temple as illustrated in Vishnudharmottara Purana.

Handmaiden of chief queen, Malavika’s intrigue love story with the king Agnimittara was a masterpiece play created by Kalidas who was a courtpoet of Chandragupta Vikram Aditya .’Zero diya Bharat ne’ due to Aryabhatta who also gave the value of pi and Suryasiddhant ,too among the Navratnas present in the court including Kalidas, Ptolemy, Dhanvantri and  varhamihir. The reminiscence of education were exceptional as the very famous Nalanda University built during this period by Kumar Gupta. Samudragupta playing Veena ,Kumar Gupta enigmatic Apratigraha coin which Altekar define as Kumar leaving for renunciation whereas Raven suggested that young Kumar offered Garuda dhwaj at commencement of his rule ,doubts were obvious as this what makes jigsaw puzzle of history completes and interesting. Before becoming Buddha, Bodhisattva was born as Spetaketu, God of Tashita heaven where God resides. In the heaven ,Spetaketu prepared for the four examinations he would have to go through before he could become buddha. The exams were to take place at definite time, country ,family he would be born for the last time. At last the auspicious time came when he would be borne in the continent of Jambu -India, in the country of Magadha, to queen of Suddhodhana, the head of Sakya clan ,many more such jatakas story were depicted in the murals of Ajanta caves were precedent of Gupta period artistic development. 

GDP is a red hot topic in todays world that defines the economy of the country likewise GDP of Gupta empire of Indian subcontinent constitutes 33.21% of world’s population and generate estimate of $450 PPP per annum (world economy: historical statistic, Angus Maddison) which is strong reason to consider it a golden period and the prevalence of Dinar was proof of it.

As everything would never be perfect on one side Shakti cult were emerged in this era to show the completion of male through female and on other women were having secondary positions and Vedic rituals became hard and pedantic practices increased .Nevertheless strong nation make strong rulers and vice versa and Gupta period have enough of it ,when  rulers were capable of understanding the needs and demands of people the nation will prosper and if not it began to fall .Rise and fall are nature’s way what fall will rise and what rise will fall but what makes this era remarkable is development in almost all aspect and stickiness to their indigenous nature and culture.

 Author: Miss Pooja Sharma 

We can't picture life without the internet because we live in a digital age. Every aspect of life is greatly impacted by the internet. People's lives have been changed in a variety of ways, including banking, travel, education, health, and the implementation of government programmes. The internet has eliminated geographical boundaries; no matter where you are, you can instantly connect with someone who is thousands of miles away. Social media has developed into a valuable tool for exchanging ideas and information with the aid of the internet. Social media is now used to influence and control public opinion.

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