Keep Walking – Par Jaanaa Kitthe Hai?

There is a famous Punjabi joke. A Punjabi watches a hoarding of Johny Walker whiskey which says, “Keep Walking”. He says, “Keep walking taan theek hai, par jaanaa kitthe hai?” (It is fine to keep walking, but where does he want to go?) This aptly summarises the question people are asking – “It is great to watch Rahul Gandhi walking continuously for 100 days, untiringly without a break (so far and longest stay in India as we can gather), full of vigour; but where does he want to go? Where does he want to take Congress? What is the purpose?” After watching the developments and political fallout of Rahul Gandhi’s exertions, one may call it, Rahul’s march to nowhere.



Let me make a disclosure first - I wish Rahul Gandhi’s march to succeed. I think, he has taken the best possible step to revitalise a demoralised Congress party. I hope Congress is revived, as it is the only opposition party with a national perspective with its presence still in nearly all parts of the country. I may not like many of its policy, I may hate its Hindu baiting and minority appeasement policies. Still, it is better for the nation to have such a party as the main opposition rather than dynastic family-run regional parties whose only goal is to rule till eternity for the family and who cannot think beyond their own narrow sectarian or regional view.

The Objective

From the reports from various sources, the yatra has been more successful than anticipated by the organizers. There are more people than those arranged by the local party leaders. The local Congress units did become active in preparing for his show. To that extent, his exertions succeeded. But going back to factional fights or hibernation after he leaves, is what I hear. Anyways, it did tell the demoralized cadre and leaders that the 19% voters bagged in 2019 may not have deserted Congress as yet. After all, these are loyal voters of decades, who by their conditioned reflexes still do not wish to vote for BJP. They have not fallen for newbies like AAP despite the best efforts of Congress leaders to abandon their grounds.

We have seen that our people respect anyone taking a hard path. Remember support to Gandhi ji, Chandrashekhar who went on to become PM, albeit only with a handful of MPs and lot of machinations. There are many regional leaders who took out padayatras in their respective states to interact with the people and had successful harvesting of their efforts.

However, he didn’t call his yatra – Congress Chetna Yatra (Congress awakening march), but Bharat Jodo Yatra. His team chose this theme, trying to contrast their approach with BJP, which they claim, divides the people. They claimed that they wished to talk about real issues like unemployment and inflation etc. It would have been a great if they had struck to the theme and seen to it that the entire party echoes the theme in a synchronised manner. This is where the march has lost its way, reaching nowhere.

The Muddle

Rahul Gandhi is stuck with anti-RSS/BJP/Hindutva theme, which is worn out, cliché, and with declining; and now negative returns. On top of it, his handlers ask him to insult national figure like Veer Savarkar in Maharashtra where he is a household name and highly respected, where his patriotic songs reverberate with every Marathi manoos; to quote just one faux pas.

He talks of love, but he has people accompanying him who riled Hindus by slaughtering young calf in Kerala, by a Christian cleric who has used most abusive words for Hindus and Bharatmata. He has inducted into his party, people who called for ‘Desh ke tukde tukde’. His chosen party president visits Narasimha Rao’s memorial after decades of neglect, but he doesn’t visit his memorial while in Telangana. He is accompanied by the very people who targeted Congress during anti-corruption campaign and were one of the major factors in bringing down Congress and its allies. He has advisors and accompanying people who have JNU backgrounds and are known as Urban Naxals, who have supported Naxals and anarchists overtly or covertly. This is contrary to his professed spreading of love and message of unity.

To make matters worse, while he tries to pass on his message about love and unemployment, inflation etc, his colleagues dig up his pitch by making worst kind of gaffes on social media and electronic channels. The latest one is an insult to one of the most popular and respected leaders of independent India, Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee. Today, as I write this piece, he has visited the same leader’s samadhi. But, can it undo the damage when its cronies and spokespersons went on to defend the vile person who made the insulting false accusations? I do not know whether he has passed any comments or taken any action against the person.

It is a political party, all said and done, that wishes to capture power. He is working hard to become its uncontested numero uno, officially or unofficially. Can he claim that unassailable position when he remained aloof from the elections that took place during his march, two out of three which his party lost badly and won one on the back of unimaginable size of rebellion in BJP, and where Rahul did not even peek in? Can he claim that he is not interested in electoral politics and lead a political party?

The Messaging

He wants be seen at a higher pedestal than his competition. For that, he needs moral strength and must be seen as ethical opposition leader. He has made irresponsible statements about national security. His claim about horrible socio-political situation of the country sound hollow when his yatra’s passage has been so smooth. His announcement that he will unfurl Tricolour in Srinagar hits at his repeated assertions that Jammu Kashmir policy of this government has failed. Remember, during his party’s rule, Murli Manohar Joshi and his junior at that time, Narendra Modi were dissuaded from going to Srinagar. They had to be provided massive security to unfurl the flag and yatra was ridiculed. Today Srinagar and entire Jammu Kashmir celebrates 15th August and 26th January across not just Jammu, Ladakh but also Kashmir valley. He will be doing nothing great by unfurling the national flag there except cementing BJP’s claim that situation is fast changing in the valley for the better.

Many analysists claim that this is another (latest) reinvention that is periodic exercise by the media since last more than 15 years. I see nothing except cementing his position within Congress, based on his own first hard physical exercise on the streets since he began his political journey.

Some claim that he can no more be called a Pappu. I doubt. I am not even pointing out his famed gaffes in public meetings that are a masala for thousands of memes floating in social media. His policy-related wrong messages, whether CAA or China show him as an immature leader who needs continuous hand-holding. Unfortunately, the ones holding his hands these days are highly influenced by JNU kind of new-left whose idea of India is at variance with even Nehruvian idea of India.

The Dilemma

Lastly, the most critical dilemma facing the opposition and Congress is, what if Rahul succeeds in strengthening his position as the biggest opposition leader, as projected by the media? In that case, Congress will refuse to budge from its position as the pre-eminent party and will not give space to other parties in seat sharing, if an alliance is struck, or in leadership race as prime opponent to Modi. If he fails due to unsynchronised, messaging that nobody understood and fails to keep party in active mood as the enthusiasm tapers off, he will be seen as a weak leader. Then, opposition won’t give Congress much space nor cede ground to Rahul Gandhi in a proposed anti-Modi fight. So, what will he ultimately gain, except an impressive physical fitness certificate?

His failure to communicate directly with the masses or with senior journalists is seen when a very senior journalist of a TV channel covering the Congress party for years was not able to get near Rahul Gandhi, forget talking to him, while he was in Delhi.

Thus, we end up from where we began. Keep walking, surely. But where does he want to go? “Jaanaa kitthe hai?” people will ask. There are still 45 days of march. I hope Congress and Rahul Gandhi can refocus on “jaanaa kitthe hai”. I wish them success.