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"Nothing frustrates team members more than leaders who can't make up their minds": What does Rahul Gandhi padyatra of Bharat Jodo with 60 containers Luxury on wheels have it that Chandra Shekhar's marathon walk of Bharat Yatra didn't, simple its hypocrisy
Rahul Gandhi, the eternal Congress candidate for the post of Prime Minister of India, nevertheless multiple electoral defeats, appears to have taken a leaf out of his Pakistani counterpart, Imran Khan’s playbook for his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. Gandhi is going to stay in luxury containers for the one hundred fifty days of ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ much like Khan spent his agitation days in containers back in 2014.
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Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, the Congress party is combating its survivorship. Having gradually lost its relevance among the electorates beneath the leadership of the Gandhi family, the grand old party is creating a last-ditch attempt to show its political fortunes.
Dubbed as ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, Congress kickstarted its 3,570-km march from Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday (September 7). The march will last over 5 months and will cover 12 States before terminating at Srinagar.
The much-touted 3,570-km ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ began at Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu and will move northwards, passing through Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Nilambur, Mysuru, Bellary, Raichur, Vikarabad, Nanded, Jalgaon, Indore, Kota, Dausa, Alwar, Bulandshahr, Delhi, Ambala, Pathankot, and Jammu, before culminating in Srinagar.
The Congress party is touting the yatra as the biggest mass contact program since Independence and a “turning point” in India’s political history. The march will proceed in two batches – from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. While the morning session will include fewer participants, the evening session will see mass mobilization. The participants plan to walk around 22 to 23 km daily.
The party repeatedly asserted that its ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kashmir to Kanyakumari is not a ‘Mann Ki Baat’ in any manner, but its objective is to ensure that the concerns and demands of the people reach Delhi.
The ‘foot march’ is also accompanied by a convoy of 60 containers, which are color coded as per the availability of beds. The Congress leaders sleep in these containers, which are mounted on trucks. They camp on the roadsides, eat food made by cooking staff and get clean laundry once every 3 days.
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It is like a mini village that springs up at a new campsite every day, and comes alive every night, on about 60 truck-mounted container vans turned into air-conditioned bedrooms. Rahul Gandhi’s biggest outreach program of his political career, and the Congress’s five-month gambit to turn around its fortunes, rests on these.
The containers are parked in color-coded zones, depending on the number of beds they have. Apart from the ones the 120-odd partymen walking alongside Rahul, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, are staying in, there is a container turned into a mini-conference hall.
The luxurious containers are equipped with air conditioners and modern amenities. One of them has even been turned into a mini-conference hall. Rahul Gandhi, the leader spearheading the padayatra, has a container to himself.
Labeled No.1, the container of the Gandhi dynast has a bed, attached bathroom, and a couch. It is stationed in the yellow zone. His security team sleeps in container No 2 while his staff, Alankar Sawai and K B Byju, are housed in Container No 4.
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Congress Secretarty Vamshi Chand Reddy and General Secretary are housed in Container No. 3.Similarly, blue zone containers have 2 beds and a washroom. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh sleeps in one such container (No 15).
There are also pink zone containers for female travellers with 2 lower berths and 2 upper berths. Besides, they are equipped with attached bathrooms and storage spaces. On the other hand, red and organe zone containers house up to 4 people but have no toilets.
A few containers have also been turned into common washrooms and have been marked with the letter ‘T.’ The participants are also accompanied by housekeeping staff, whose job is to change the linen and bedding each morning once the morning foot yatra resumes.
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The Congress leaders dine in a common area. They have been instructed to not consume liquor and tobacco at the campsite. The participants of the foot yatra have also been told to not eat inside the containers.
The menu factors in the taste of the region; with the breakfast in Nagercoil on Friday, for example, dosa idli, upma, poha, sambar, and chutney. The night menu is different types of rice with curries. Delhi leader Yasmeen Kidwai is in charge of the food, with different committees such as the food committee and maintenance and housekeeping committee sharing the responsibilities.
An agency is looking after the provision of fuel and water, as well as electricians and plumbers to keep things running.
Despite high security for Rahul Gandhi, the containers bear a notice that said that the management team would not be responsible for the loss of personal belongings. While the Congress is aiming to connect all Indians, the party leaders themselves are divorced from the hard realities facing real India.
"India is intact. We're one nation. Congress disintegrated India in 1947. If Rahul Gandhi regrets that his grandfather made a mistake, there's no use for Bharat Jodo Yatra in India. Try to integrate Pakistan, Bangladesh & work for Akhand Bharat..," says Assam CM.
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Chandra Shekhar - Bharat Yatra
The real India's Padyatra was done by Chandrashekhar in 1983 when he reached Rajghat in Delhi from this Kanyakumari and walked a total of 4500 km, no car was running with him, there was no facility with him, he just used to walk. He would rest in a park or under a tree and during his journey, Chandrashekhar did not stay in a single hotel, nor used to sit in any car for even a single second, he used to get tired and rested somewhere in the village!
As President of the Janata Party, he undertook a marathon walk (Padyatra, later known as Bharat Yatra) from Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu to Rajghat in New Delhi, covering a total distance of 4260 km from 6 January 1983 to 25 June 1983.
The objective of undertaking such an arduous task, i.e., the Bharat Yatra, was to highlight the problems of the rural areas and eliminate the prevalent social inequalities and disparities.
This exercise made him popular amongst the masses.
During this journey, Chandra Shekhar established around 15 Bharat Yatra centers in various parts of India including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana.
On the momentous Bharat Yatra, Chandra Shekhar observed: “For nearly six months till we reached Delhi on 25 June 1983, it was a continuous procession. It was the spontaneous response of the people which made the Yatra a unique success.
For the first time, people realized that there were some who were ready to come to their houses to understand their problems.
"When we started, it was doubtful whether people would react positively to Bharat Yatra or would take it as a political drama. But all through the Yatra, the villagers who were illiterate, who were ignorant, who were helpless, lined up in large numbers to receive the volunteers who were walking. In almost all the villages, even the poor people managed to offer the best welcome that they could afford. There might have been difficulty of language, but the language of the heart, which was more powerful, helped to communicate the feelings. We ourselves understood that the people are willing to cooperate if we go to them. In this respect, it was Mahatma Gandhi who put his finger on the pulse of the people. It was an adventure in self, it was an adventure of self-education."
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Gaurav Pradhan Analysis
Congress's Bharat Jodo yatra......
Rahul Gandhi, who is famous for “Bharat Chodo” and is taking up a Yatra as “Bharat Jodo “‘, which will open his eyes to a new India under our Hon PM Narendra Modi and our country's transformation in the last eight years! So Rahul Ji is going for a yatra of 3570 km, 150 days, with No hotel stay.
Dear Rahul Ji, Our Hon PM has ensured you a safe Yatra;
- 94.4 Crore Indians have taken 2 doses of Covid Vaccines. So don’t fear COVID.
- National highway length has increased by a whopping 50% in the last 8 years! Thus, you won’t have any problems with bad roads.
- Districts reporting left-wing extremism have dropped from 70 in 2014 to 46 in 2021. So, no fear of attacks in convoys.
- Only 16.9% of rural households had access to Tapped drinking water in 2019. Today 53% of rural HHs have safe & tapped drinking water. You will thus have access of clean drinking water throughout your journey.
- Since the launch of Saubhagya, 2.8 crore households have been electrified. So, no problem of dark gloomy evenings anymore. You can make easy movements in roads even in late evenings and nights.
- Don’t carry cash. It’s not safe to keep cash especially when people like those on your team are around. You can use Paytm, Google pay, Airtel pay, and all UPI-linked banking systems throughout the Country, and thank Modiji for the digital India initiative 😜.
We also request Rahul Gandhi to nudge his UPA partners, especially the DMK govt, to honor their poll promises by reducing the petrol & diesel rates.
We also urge that you fill the tanks of the vehicles in your convoy in BJP-ruled states to save money!.. Please use digital payments while filling the tanks 😜.. and while buying liters of Atta for food..😂😂😂😂
Take care, Rahul Ji...
Regards
A concerned Bharatwasi
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