When Rahul Gandhi took the first steps of the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kanyakumari, it could well echo a quote of the leadership expert and author of Start With Why and creator of ‘The Golden Circle Theory’, Simon Sinek.
He says: “Leaders don’t convince people to follow them. Leaders walk alone, and those who want to go down their path decide to follow.”It is rare for today’s political leader to embark on a hard, gruelling walk across the nation, covering 3,500 km. The last time someone did take up such a task was Janata Party leader Chandra Shekhar in early 1983 when he walked from Kanyakumari to Delhi with his small group of admirers and supporters.
It is safe to guess it might take a few years before we see another Indian leader attempting something similar. This yatra could be a template for leaders to know and understand their people and their issues from close quarters.
As the yatra exited Karnataka on Sunday, streaming into Telangana, flashes and visions of the last three weeks of the yatra through the state came to the fore—the welcome it received in Mysuru and the rural interior roads it took at some stretches to connect with the people at the ground level. This gave Rahul and the accompanying yatris a genuine insight into the life of the rural hinterland of Karnataka. The yatris lived a modest routine, nothing fancy—a container, bed, bath and regular food catered by local caterers.
What would have made Rahul Gandhi take up the Bharat Jodo Yatra? What was he thinking? What would be the expected outcome here?
The whole exercise appears to have been in the works for a while now. It is no simple task to make arrangements for food, shelter, media and group interactions, and public meetings over 3,500 km. It needs an army of volunteers and materials all through, and it looks like this logistics team has done a commendable job to date. The local district and state-level party teams did their bit all along while making support arrangements for travel and food for public meetings and local interactions. What it did in the bargain was bring party leaders and cadres together to work for a single objective of the yatra. It united them.
For Rahul Gandhi, this is—and continues to be—the best part of his political journey: To know and connect first-hand with the common folks of the country. He gets to meet and hear people from all walks of life. There is no greater reward than an opportunity to know one’s fellow citizens this way.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra has the potential to inspire political leaders across the spectrum to do the same in their states, constituencies and wards to experience first-hand the real India and understand the issues and challenges an ordinary person faces.
In this era of political leadership, which can create a billion impressions about its leaders in a week across the entire media ecosystem and get messaging done in the way it wants, this yatra could sound old-school, the one benefit being the opportunity to connect with the country like no other. This is a personal journey and discovering the real India for Rahul Gandhi.
A leader walking for people’s issues wins a special place in the hearts of Indians. It started with Mahatma Gandhi, who made this a way to connect with the masses who, in turn, walked along and showed their solidarity. It is hard to imagine the groundswell without the yatras by the leaders during the freedom movement.
Indian society has always loved and respected leaders who stood by them and walked with them in times of hardship. People could see the leaders’ sincerity and humility and then reciprocated positively.
In South Indian politics, leaders who walked for key issues have received the support of the masses and set narratives. Examples are there: YSR’s yatra across Andhra totalling 1,500 km, Siddaramaiah’s ‘Bellary chalo’ against the Reddy brothers’ corruption in 2010, S M Krishna’s walk from then Bangalore to Mandya on the Cauvery water issue in 2002, and more recently, D K Shivakumar’s Mekedatu padayatra for the drinking water issue of Bengaluru.
However, the bigger questions that haunt us are: Will this yatra bring positive results for the Congress party? Will this yatra unite the Congress members in Karnataka with a similar thought process as those across the country? Will it usher in a whole new narrative of communal harmony and brotherhood? Will it bring out issues clogging India’s human development? Only time will tell.
As the yatra wound its way through the length of Kerala and Karnataka, it saw people lining up on the rural roadside as early as 6 am to get a glimpse of Rahul Gandhi and the yatris.People in thousands made direct contact with him, shaking hands, throwing flowers, offering sweets, dancing, and making their children meet and greet Rahul Gandhi.
It was also a show of local culture, music, dance and food, which people eagerly displayed.But in their discussions with Rahul Gandhi, one common factor came up: complaints about misgovernance and harassment of people in their day-to-day life while dealing with the government.There has been no such effort to energise any political party from the grassroots.
This yatra also gave second- and lower-rung rural leaders of the party in Kerala and Karnataka a chance to connect with Rahul Gandhi directly. The organisers are ensuring they do the same across all the states in the coming days.
In Karnataka, the Congress party never had it so good over a long time. Now, the AICC President is from Karnataka, even as the yatra has had phenomenal success across its path so far. There was considerable groundswell for the party across the state, thanks in some measure to allegations of alleged misgovernance by the Bommai government.
With the perfectly timed party presidential elections, and Mallikarjun Kharge winning, no wonder the yatra has brought smiles to the faces of Kharge, Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar.
B S Murthy
Bengaluru-based political analyst
(murthy.xtrail@gmail.com)