“I am neither going to become a Shankaracharya nor Vinoba Bhave. This yatra is definitely political. But I want to keep it different from traditional politics. I want that now there should be a place for those people who are in favor of the common citizen. I want social change. That’s why before starting the padyatra, I issued a written statement. Contacted politicians of all parties. I want my padyatra not to be limited to any party.”
Chandrashekhar, the eighth Prime Minister of India, said this in a conversation with senior journalist Udayan Sharma about his padyatra in 1983.
Udayan Sharma covered Chandrashekhar’s journey in Maharashtra continuously for four days.
By the way, Chandrashekhar reached the Rajya Sabha for the first time in 1962. At the time when he announced the padyatra, he was the president of a political party.
He was also accused that he wanted to make his image above the party. Some said that people give more importance to themselves than the party. But what he could not explain to the other leaders of his party, he set out for a padyatra in India to explain it. The five issues on which he started the journey like water, malnutrition, health, are still important political in India.
There is also a fact that after seven years of his political journey, in 1990, he also became the Prime Minister of India for a few months. But what was the achievement of his padyatra and how much did he contribute in becoming the PM – as much talk is spoken on it even today.
His argument was that out of India’s 90 crore (1983) population, there are only 170 million pedestrians throughout their life, who do not even have a bicycle, a bus.
Why remember Chandrashekhar’s visit today?
If this thought is coming in your mind as soon as you read the report, then read its answer also.An exercise to measure India step by step is also going to start in the 21st century. The Congress has announced a ‘Bharat Jodo’ padyatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, which will be started by their leader Rahul Gandhi on 7 September.
Because of this, the history of the old padyatras in India is being reconstructed once again.An attempt has been made in this report to clear this dust lying in the memories of the people of India.
Before that, let’s take a look at some important points of this Congress visit.
India Couple travel
In the Udaipur convention of the Congress, the proposal to start ‘Bharat Jodo’ Yatra was passed. It has been decided that this yatra will be led by Rahul Gandhi. This journey will start from Kanyakumari on 7th September 2022 at 5 pm and will end after 150 days by going to Kashmir.
Mile Kadam, Jude Watan – Bharat is the tagline of Jojo Yatra.
A program has been made to cover a distance of 3570 km through this padyatra.Wherethere is a program to cover 20 kilometers everyday in three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening.This yatra will pass through 12 states and 2 union territories.
Three types of pedestrians will be involved in this journey.
100 India passengers who will be in the journey from beginning to end. Rahul Gandhi will also join the padyatra as a traveler of India.
100 guest passengers who will be from those states from where this journey is not passing.
100 state travelers will be from those states through which the journey will be passing.
In this way, a total of 300 pedestrians will participate in this padyatra at a time.Different types of containers have been arranged for the stay of these passengers, in which there will be arrangements for sleeping, eating and toilet.
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Why the need to connect India?
Talking on the need for this padyatra, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that this yatra is an attempt to unite India against economic inequality, social polarization and political tensions spread in India.
Explaining these three issues in detail, he also said, “Economic inequality in India is due to inflation, unemployment, GST. Social polarization is happening in the name of caste, religion, language, food, dress. For political tension. The growing gulf between the states and the Center is responsible, which is increasing due to the misuse of investigative agencies.However, many political meanings of Congress’s padyatra are also being extracted.
Congress is taking out this yatra when only their government is left in two states and coalition government is left in two states.
From 2014 to 2022, 49 Lok Sabha and assembly elections were held, out of which the Congress lost 39.
There is also a truth that who is the next President of Congress? – There is a strong buzz about this at the moment.
In the month of September in which this padyatra is starting, the same month was fixed earlier to decide the schedule for the election of the President.
Apart from this, new names are being thrown daily by the opposition leaders about who will lead the opposition in front of PM Modi in the Lok Sabha elections to be held in 2024.
At the same time, the news of the split in the unity of the opposition also keeps coming out every week in different ways.
Because of this, the eyes of the opposition and the ruling party must have been fixed regarding this padyatra of Rahul Gandhi. Congress is also aware of this.Perhaps because of this, the Congress will carry the tricolor, not the flag of its party, in this journey. Invitation has been sent to Lohiaist, Leftist, Socialist organizations, Congress critics and civil society to join the padyatra.The option of joining other political parties is also kept open. As Chandrashekhar did during his padyatra.
It is worth mentioning that during the India Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi, assembly elections will also be held in some states and the Parliament session will also run.
In such a situation, Rahul Gandhi, being a traveler of India, will participate in the election campaign and the program of Parliament? It will be interesting to see this.
For all these reasons, this padyatra of Congress is being seen through a political lens.
Brief History of Pad Yatras in India
As soon as the mention of Rahul’s padyatra comes, the memory of Gandhi, Chandrashekhar, Vinoba Bhave’s padyatra automatically comes.
By the way, there is a history of padyatras even before the 20th and 21st centuries.
Before Shankaracharya, Gautam Buddha and later Guru Nanak and Mahatma Gandhi did such a padyatra.
Such travels in independent India include Acharya Vinoba Bhave (1951), former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar (1983), YSR (2003) Chandrababu Naidu (2013) Digvijay Singh’s (2017) Narmada Yatra. Some historians also add the visit of Baba Amte to this.Historians divide these padyatras into different sections. The visits of Gautam Buddha, Guru Nanak, Vinoba Bhave are different from the political padyatras of Mahatma Gandhi, former PM Chandrashekhar, YSR, Chandrababu Naidu, Digvijay Singh.
One premise is given that if a person associated with politics takes out such a journey, then that padyatra is political.
In this sense, the padyatra of Rahul Gandhi is also political.
In such a situation, a question also arises that does Rahul want to stand himself in the league of Gandhi, Chandrashekhar, Vinoba Bhave with such a journey? Other political padyatras are recent.
Before coming to any conclusion for this question, it is necessary to discuss the ‘purpose and their achievement’ of the old travels.
Gandhi’s Dandi March
Before India’s independence, Mahatma Gandhi took out a short but powerful padyatra against the British. The Dandi Yatra made Mahatma Gandhi famous throughout India and made the Indian face of the fight against the British.
At that time in India, the cost of one mind i.e. 38 kg of salt used to be 10 paise. The government imposed a tax of twenty annas i.e. 2400 percent on it.
Gandhi decided to break the salt law by going to Dandi, 241 km from Ahmedabad.
He selected 79 workers to accompany him. Mahatma Gandhi himself was also involved in it. At that time his age was 61 years. He used to walk 24 kms daily. Although there was a provision for a horse for him, but Gandhiji did not sit on it even for a day. Blisters also occurred due to walking in his feet.The journey of Mahatma Gandhi was shorter than that of Rahul, but the Dandi March has drawn a deep streak of success for the padyatras.
Rahul Gandhi is 52 years old. According to media reports, he will cover a distance of 20 kilometers in a day. He will also be accompanied by 300 co-passengers.
While Talking to the Media Agency on the purpose of Gandhi’s visit, Gandhian author Kumar Prashant says, “Gandhi’s Dandi Yatra had two important objectives. One is to revive the sagging Congress and the second is the loot that is going on by taxing salt. get him back.”
Kumar Prashant says, “On these objectives, if we look at Gandhi’s Dandi March, there can be no other padyatra in the history of India. The journey of 241 km lasted for 25 days. In this movement, not only the salt law was broken, but also the whole country. Created a new light of the movement. He himself selected every traveler involved in this padyatra, made a list. Ensured representation of all the states. Women were deliberately kept away from it, who were assigned the task of prohibition.
Senior journalist Ram Bahadur Rai says that big leaders of Congress were against this visit of Gandhi. Despite this, Gandhi’s Dandi Yatra created a new resolve for independence among Indians.
From this perspective, Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Padyatra seems to be influenced to some extent by the visit of Mahatma Gandhi.
During the journey, they will also have containers loaded on the truck but they will be only for rest.He has also selected 100 India travelers who will accompany him throughout the journey.
Even though the purpose of the yatra is being told by the Congress people to connect India, but if political analysts are to be believed, the Congress is lying loose even today. There is a hope from this visit that he can revive the Congress.
Chandrashekhar’s visit to India
In independent India, a padyatra like Gandhi was also taken out by former PM Chandrashekhar, who was the president of his party at the time of the visit.
He started his journey on 6 January 1983, ended in Delhi on 25 June. During this, Chandrashekhar used to walk 45 kilometers daily. During this there was a total walk of 4200 km.
There were five important objectives of his visit. Drinking water, freedom from malnutrition, education of every child, right to health and social harmony for every human being.
Chandrashekhar has written all the things related to the padyatra in his biography.
Once upon a time, Chandrashekhar’s information adviser and at this time the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, Harivansh spoke in detail about Chandrasekhar’s journey in a conversation with the Media Agency.He has also written a book on Chandrasekhar: Chandrasekhar – The Last Icon of Ideological Politics and is also considered close to him.When Chandrashekhar started the yatra, his mind was disturbed by the political dispute going on in the party at that time. In those days, internal quarrels within the party were a daily thing, about which he could not even speak outside the party. There was suffocation, he wanted to leave everything and get out of it. When this idea came to Chandrasekhar’s mind, he first sent two leaders of his party to South India. The leaders came back and said that the idea of traveling to India is painful and meaningless. Then his Two youths came near who wanted to work for social change. When they started the yatra, they had clearly said that this is not a party program. The party leaders of Kerala did not even help them.”
Based on Chandrashekhar’s book, Harivansh shared these things with the Media Agency
Chandrashekhar further wrote in his book, “After that padyatra, it was my mistake to get involved in the politics of the opposition. Immediately after this journey, I had to start the second phase of the India Yatra which I could not do. If there was an effort of public awareness after this, the journey would have far-reaching consequences. But that cannot happen.”That is, Chandrashekhar himself did not call this journey a success.
Harivansh says, “Chandrasekhar started this journey with Rs 3500. The people involved in the journey used to bear the expenses of the food on the way. The money with which he built India Travel Centers across the country. No member of his family was a member of Bharat Yatra Kendra.”
According to Harivansh, from the point of view of awakening political consciousness, Chandrashekhar’s padayatra was successful. He describes the Bharat Yatra Kendras as the biggest achievement of Chandrashekhar’s padyatra. He got wide public support in the areas of the country through which his padyatra passed. But politics in Delhi runs for power, so when Chandrashekhar’s journey in Delhi reached the end, the response was not as expected.
After the conclusion of his padyatra, Chandrashekhar reached Ramlila Maidan the next day.
Senior journalist Ram Bahadur Rai also reached there to see how Delhi is welcoming him.
Sharing his experience with the Media Agency, he said, “Only 100-200 extra people had reached there because of the number of passengers and co-travellers at Ramlila Maidan that day. I was very disappointed to see this. I again went to listen to his speech. Didn’t even stop.”
Ramlila Maidan has always been known for large gatherings.
Later Ram Bahadur Roy asked Dharampal, a Gandhian thinker, “Why did the Delhiites ignore Chandrashekhar so ruthlessly?”
Dharampal said in response to Ram Bahadur Rai, “Padyatra in India for 5000 km or 100 km – this is never considered an act of bravery. Bravery is not born in the society. Therefore such people are not even congratulated.” “
Ram Bahadur Rai says that the achievement of Chandrashekhar’s padyatra is the same – the five issues he raised at that time are important even today. The resolutions that PM Modi has reiterated from the Red Fort this time are also reflected in Chandrashekhar’s issues.
Will you be able to join the league of Gandhi and Chandrashekhar ?
Even after the visit of Chandrashekhar and even before, many padyatras took place in India.But a revolution like that of Mahatma Gandhi was not born again from a padyatra.
Then how many hopes can be tied to Rahul Gandhi’s visit?
On this question, Gandhian thinker Kumar Prashant says, “This journey of Rahul Gandhi can be compared with any padyatra in history, then it is Chandrashekhar’s padyatra. That too in the sense that if Congress has in mind this journey is an event. If I have a dream to make, then a similar event was Chandrashekhar’s padyatra, which was not intended. But I personally want this successful journey to be successful in the crisis that India is going through at this time.
On the success of political padyatras, Ram Bahadur Rai says, “What you have done for the society as a leader or what people think about you determines the impact of the journey. Rahul Gandhi’s padyatra is not a journey. It’s a political program.”
Many political experts are also expressing doubts on how many days Rahul will be involved in this yatra.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad also took a dig at Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra on Friday, writing in his five-page resignation letter that at present the party leadership needs to start ‘Congress Jodo’ Yatra instead of ‘Bharat Jodo’. The way Chandrashekhar had planned his padyatra after being disturbed by the internal politics of the party, the way Gandhi started the Dandi March in an attempt to bring energy to the sagging Congress – the Congress is also standing at the same crossroads today. The reasons for both the padyatras of history are troubling today’s Congress.
But whether this yatra will be a yatra or event in today’s context – the eyes of the ruling party, opposition and Congress workers are fixed on this.