Rahul Gandhi is out on a padyatra. This is the longest padyatra in the known history of India. They will walk three and a half thousand kilometers. His journey will pass through 12 states and two union territories. To tell the unity, integrity and vastness of India, the word ‘Kashmir to Kanyakumari’ is spoken in common parlance. Rahul is going to measure the distance of Kanyakumar from Kashmir with his own steps. This is a very ambitious campaign. But as Rahul Gandhi himself said that there was no way left for him, so he had to choose the option of going among the people. He should have chosen this option earlier. Still it’s too late! Of late, he has set out to change the fortunes of his party and wash away the stains that have been put on his image. Whatever may be the stated purpose of the yatra, its real purpose is to change the fortunes of the Congress and the perception about Rahul.
Both these objectives can be achieved by this journey. Political tours in India have a history of success. Gandhi had walked on foot and by making a pinch of salt, he shook the foundation of the British Raj. In independent India, all the leaders who did padyatras or rath yatras got success. Chandrashekhar started his India journey in 1983, three years after the Janata Party’s defeat and disintegration in 1980, from the same Vivekananda memorial in Kanyakumari where Rahul has started his journey by paying tribute. Chandrashekhar took seven years after that but he became the Prime Minister of the country. Three leaders from Andhra Pradesh made trips and all three managed to gain power. First NT Rama Rao did the Rath Yatra and much later by YSR Reddy and then by his son Jagan Mohan Reddy. In 1984, when BJP leader LK Advani traveled from Somnath to Ayodhya, who was reduced to two Lok Sabha seats, the BJP got power. Only then can it be said that when the losers start walking with courage, they get their destination sooner or later.
Yes, there are some people who get their destination as soon as they start walking. Such people are lucky. But those who stumble and fall while walking and then get up and start walking, such people become an inspiration, they are exemplary. It is also strange that the world looks down upon the losers but respects, salutes the struggle of the same loser. If the struggle of the loser becomes successful, then he is like the nectar obtained from the churning of the ocean and the person who is scorched by the struggle writes a new history. Dinkar has written – When obstacles come in front, wake us from sleep, twist the mind moment by moment, shake the body moment by moment, only by turning towards the path, go only after awakening us…… They burn in the house, it is they who come out of the sun, rise and fall on the calamities, my teenager! my crown! Let the juice of life be filtered, Let the body become a stone, You yourself are fearful, What can spark Luck doesn’t sleep all day, see what happens next!
Rahul has to wake up the sleeping good fortune from his journey. Neither defeat nor sorrow is new for Rahul. As a teenager, he has seen his grandmother die after being shot by terrorists. Standing on the threshold of youth, Rahul has witnessed the gruesome death of his father. He has seen very indecent and vulgar attacks on his mother. When he entered politics, Congress got power but Rahul himself never became a part of that power. If he wanted, he could have chosen an easy way to reach the pinnacle of Indian politics, that is, to become the Prime Minister. He had a chance to become the Prime Minister. But he chose the difficult path. On that difficult path, they are constantly facing defeat. His party has been losing the Lok Sabha elections twice in such a way that the Congress is not even able to get the status of the main opposition party in the lower house of Parliament. Congress is continuously losing in the states. Ghulam Nabi Azad, who left his party, has told that Congress has lost 39 state elections in the last eight years. But Azad did not tell how many places Rahul was defeated after winning? In how many states, the Congress government was toppled after winning the elections or forming the government by forming a coalition after the election? These failures and conspiracies must have disappointed them, yet they should be welcome if they have come out again.
They represent the heritage and tradition of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Along with history, with destiny is a promise of the family that Rahul has set out to fulfill. This is the biggest attempt to revive the 137 year old Congress party. If they are successful it will not be their personal success. This will be his duty towards history. India’s great democracy has to be a responsibility. There will be many difficulties in this path. He is in competition with such a force, which has no hesitation in trying all means, price, punishment, difference towards his opponents. The means by which successful work of maligning the image of Rahul Gandhi has been done in the last eight-ten years. All those tools will be tried again. All efforts will be made to make the journey a failure. But history bears witness that such efforts ultimately fail.
This journey of Rahul can prove to be the one to change the fortunes of Congress and change his own image as well as connecting India, which is needed the most today. As a country and society, India is divided into castes, sects and provinces. The already existing divisions have been deepened to serve petty political interests. Rahul has to bridge this divide and fill the gap. Therefore, his success is not only necessary for the Congress, but it is also necessary for the country. In the end, two lines of Kunwar Narayan – No sorrow is greater than the courage of a man, while the loser who did not fight.
