
Literary Speaking: Unravelling the layers of ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’
The Bharat Jodo Yatra of 2022 revived the Congress party, injecting new life into it and effecting a generational shift, claims Pushparaj Deshpande, co-editor of the book, Bharat Jodo Yatra: Reclaiming India’s Soul. “This change was brought about only and only because of Rahul Gandhi,” he asserts.
While Pushparaj has worked with Rajya Sabha TV, the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, and the Indian National Congress, the other co-editor of the book, Ruchira Chaturvedi, is the national convener of social media and digital communications at the Indian National Congress and has previously worked with the party in various capacities. She is also a Conrad Adenauer School for Young Politicians fellow and an American Council of Young Political Leaders delegate.

Both Ruchira and Pushparaj walked in the Bharat Jodo Yatra as well.
Pushparaj points out that people accused the Congress Party of ideological malleability for a long time. However, after the yatra, he feels that no one can say the Congress Party is unclear on its ideological path. “Now I feel ideologically, organizationally, and programmatically, the Congress Party is much stronger than it was. And this is going to give dividends for the next few decades,” he elaborates. He claims the fruits of the yatra will last for the next 30 to 40 years.
The epic 4000-kilometer nationwide march from September 2022 to January 2023, was organized by the Congress Party under the stewardship of Rahul Gandhi, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, and former president of the Indian National Congress. Rahul Gandhi is now also the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Pushparaj says his book highlights the many layers of meaning of the yatra, whether social, political, economic, or cultural. He highlights that on its ideological path, the Congress Party now says that ‘daro mat’ (don’t be afraid); it talks about ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence); it says that it will stand up for the most vulnerable classes like the Dalits, OBCs, Muslims, minorities, and Adivasis.
“Even the reclaiming of Hinduism as opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindutva, these are topics that the Congress Party was unwilling to touch upon earlier. Rahul Gandhi has taken on each of these questions and said this is our ideological line. I am not saying that he has imposed his view on people. No, he has had multiple conversations with the entire Congress party as well as the people of India and that is how we have evolved this clear ideological line,” he narrates.
The Congress party took out another cross-country yatra, which was undertaken primarily on vehicles, close on the heels of the first one, known as the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, which started from Manipur in the east and ended in Mumbai in the western part of the country.
“The second yatra was quite different in format and approach. It built upon the gains of the first yatra and helped immensely in our manifesto formation for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, whether it is the caste census or the five guarantees, the second yatra was how these promises came about,” says Ruchira.
“The whole issue of unemployment and paper leaks gained momentum during this yatra. Rahul Gandhi raised these issues while interacting with the youth in Bihar, UP, and the entire Hindi heartland. Many young people joined the yatra because of this. These also fed into our manifesto and we spoke of a law against paper leaks, promised an unemployment allowance, and an apprenticeship program. These came from a combination of the interactions from the first and the second yatra,” she adds.
The book is divided into three sections and goes beyond being a logistical account. The first section has personal accounts of participants like Ruchira who walked throughout the yatra and were known as ‘Bharat Yatris’. It contains their political and ideological reflections and what the yatra meant to them personally. There are also essays written by people who organized the yatra, revealing interesting behind-the-scenes activities relating to logistics, social media, communications, and outreach. Sections two and three comprise articles by some of India’s foremost academics, activists, and policymakers across party lines, discussing what the yatra meant normatively to Indian politics today.
Political leaders from different parties who participated in the yatra also wrote their impressions. So there are articles by Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Mehbooba Mufti of the People’s Democratic Party of Jammu and Kashmir, and D Raja of the Communist Party of India, among others.
“Even the foundation of the INDI Alliance was laid during the yatra. It offered a platform for every party to join in, meet the people, and genuinely understand what people want. Are people genuinely angry at the BJP?” Pushparaj says.
“The yatra was in a sense a second freedom struggle to unite the country and also as the book itself says to ‘reclaim its soul’,” Ruchira asserts.
Pushparaj informs that great care was taken to ensure that the aesthetics of the yatra, including the flags and banners, would not be limited to one party, but anyone and everyone could join and own that yatra. He recounts how the cadres were organising, food and sleeping arrangements for thousands of people daily. “It was not about spending money to get it done, They were begging and borrowing from people along the way, can you lend us a generator? Can you please give us some water etc?” he says. “Sometimes thousands of people would land up for lunch unexpectedly, and sometimes the lunch would get over, but we provided for everybody,” quips Ruchira.
The last time this kind of exercise was done was when Gandhiji organized the Civil Disobedience Movement or the Quit India movement. So, this kind of hands-on training no one in the Congress party had got for the past 30 years, Pushparaj claims.
For Ruchira, the yatra was more than a unique experience. “Initially when I joined, we didn’t know what to expect. So, we decided to take it one day at a time. Also, initially, it was really hard getting up in the morning because the yatra always started at 6:00. We were walking 25 km a day and we all had blisters on our feet,” she recounts. According to her, the yatra dismantled the propaganda of the BJP as people saw Rahul for who he was. “The common people who only saw the clipped or fake videos of Rahul circulated by the BJP IT cell got to see him in person. They found out that he is not what the BJP makes him out to be,” adds Ruchira.
An important takeaway from the yatra for the grand old party was the generational shift as now multiple leaders of the second generation are primed and willing to take on responsibility. “More interestingly, which is something that is not yet visible to the public, we also have a third rung leadership in every state that is prepared for the next 25-30 years, as opposed to the BJP, which is on the downswing because it is demolishing its regional leaders by importing leaders from outside and centralizing powers. The Congress has built itself up because of Rahul Gandhi with people who are trained and connected with the people. That is the second momentous change that happened,” Pushparaj claims.
To listen to the full interview click the links below
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5TGB2D7ORaRtqCE95gOIUU?si=87a879ccb4ab43fe
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/books-and-us/id1688845897?i=1000668123569
*Senior journalist