Will Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra Help Congress Consolidate Position Against BJP Ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha Elections? Experts Stand Divided

Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra today achieved its culmination with the Congress leader attacking the BJP from Sher-e-Kashmir stadium. While Rahul Gandhi covered a distance or more than 4000 kms during his Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, he hit the headline for good as well as for bad reasons. His t-shirt adventure in the chilling cold and his statements related to 'Shiv Ji', 'Rahul Gandhi Ko Mar Diya' and 'Hindu Dharm Ko Padho' went viral on social media. While the Bharat Jodo Yatra may have got the desired media coverage, the pressing question is that will it benefit the Congress. Will it prove to be a semi-final pitch favouring the grand old party? While the experts are divided over the electoral impact of the yatra, they agree that it will help Rahul Gandhi consolidate his position within Congress.  
  
Prof. Biswanath Chakraborty, Department of Political Science, Rabindra Bharati University said that the Yatra will help Congress propagate its ideology. 

"Bharat Jodo Yatra will definitely help Congress to surface its ideology against the BJP. It shows that the Congress is still alive and has its own ideology that was being missed by people in many corners of the country for the last 10 years. This Yatra will help the Congress party to show that they are the only alternative to the BJP. However, it's too early to make any assessment of whether the yatra will have any electoral impact. In India, the electorate is divided on many grounds including identity and caste politics," said Prof. Chakraborty.

He further said that the Yatra will help build Rahul Gandhi's image within the Congress party. "It will help Rahul Gandhi to earn the respect of all Congress leaders including those who used to oppose him," said Prof. Chakraborty.

DR. Manuka Khanna, Professor of Political Science at Lucknow University, said that the public is aware of what Rahul Gandhi was doing and the Yatra will have no electoral benefits. "One cannot fool the public just by walking across from one place to the other and putting up a gimmick of t-shirt, beard and looking like a common man. They are doing this because Congress made no efforts in the last few years. Now, they are trying to be more active in politics because it faced a clear washout in many states including Uttar Pradesh," said Khanna.

She further added that Rahul Gandhi is making constant efforts, his statements create a lot of humour rather than serious talks by a politician. "The Yatra was more like an image-makeover attempt that won't help the party much. There should be some plan for the country rather than saying Bharat Jodo," she added.

Professor Sangit Ragi, Department of Political Science, Delhi University, said that the Congress has lost fighting spirit in many states and its cadre is not united. "The crowd used to throng Rahul Gandhi's rallies in Uttar Pradesh as well. The Yatra has largely been to the places where Congress is traditionally strong like Kerala and Karnataka. Now, everyone knows that without winning UP, one cannot get the throne of Delhi. Despite this, the Yatra spent less time in the state and other similar regions," said Prof Ragi.

The DU professor said that Rahul Gandhi's image has been of a non-serious politician and the Bharat Jodo Yatra appeared to be more of an image makeover exercise. "Rahul Gandhi lacks leadership morality. If you consider Bharat Jodo Yatra as Gandhi's personal foot march, it has been successful as whenever a person goes somewhere and meets people, his understanding gets developed. However, the kind of comments he made during the yatra show that no fundamental changes happened in his thought process," opined Prof Ragi.

Professor Ragi further said that going to temples and mosques is not going to help Rahul Gandhi as his opponent (Narendra Modi) is standing with 'bhasma' rubbed on his head. 

"You have to make new issues count. Rahul Gandhi is talking only about the issues which have become redundant," he said.

Rahul Gandhi today said the aim of his Bharat Jodo Yatra was to save the liberal and secular ethos of the country which, he claimed, was facing an assault from the BJP and the RSS. 

Assistant Professor Y Prabhanjan Kumar of Telangana University said that Rahul Gandhi will have to show his learnings from this yatra. "What he learnt about peoples' ambition, their problems and how he is going to find a solution for all these. Rahul Gandhi should tell people what he is going to give to them if voted to power," he said. Prabhanjan also pointed out the rift within Congress in states like Telangana and Rajasthan and added that Gandhi needs to find a solution to the party's internal issues as well.

The Kanyakumari to Kashmir yatra started from the southern tip of the country on September 7 and ended on January 30 in Srinagar, after covering 3,970 km in 12 states, and two Union territories. Rahul Gandhi held over 100 corner meetings and 13 press conferences during the yatra. He had over 275 planned walking interactions and more than 100 sittings.