Rahul Gandhi has started 'Vote Adhikar Yatra' in Bihar, which is his fifth major padyatra. Its objective is to raise the issue of removal of names from the voter list and to unite the marginalized communities.
Rahul Gandhi’s Bihar Voter Rights Yatra
Subodh Ghildiyal:
Rahul Gandhi has built his political identity and image around padyatras from the very beginning. The ‘Vote Rights Yatra’ which started from Bihar on Sunday is his fifth major padyatra. 508 days ago, he had done Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and Manipur to Mumbai, which was successful. Under his current campaign in Bihar, he will walk both on foot and by vehicle. He will cover a distance of 1300 km through 20 districts.
Just need an opportunity.
Even in his early days in politics, Rahul had done padyatra against land acquisition in Bhatta-Parsaul of West UP. To promote the issues of farmers, he did a ‘Kisan Yatra’ from Deoria to Delhi. In 2015, he visited Kedarnath. Its purpose was to show that the situation has become normal after the disaster of 2013. All these examples show that wherever there is a slight possibility, Rahul Gandhi takes to the streets.
Shadow of SIR.
But the Bihar Yatra is not like any previous campaign. It is happening at a time when the Supreme Court, accepting the demands of the opposition, has directed the Election Commission to make public the information of those whose names have been removed from the new draft roll. Assembly elections are to be held in Bihar by the end of this year and a few months before that, when the process of Special Intensive Revision i.e. SIR suddenly started, many doubts started arising.
Fear of the opposition.
The meeting with the Election Commission deepened the fear of the opposition that the workers, poor and marginalized people who have migrated outside the state may be excluded from the voter list. This class is considered anti-BJP. There were massive protests against SIR and the matter reached the Supreme Court. All this happened during the monsoon session of Parliament, which also gave a big platform to the opposition.
This is how the possibility arose.
On August 7, Rahul claimed that there was a large-scale manipulation in the voter list of Mahadevpura assembly constituency of Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat during the 2024 general elections. This claim shocked the country and strengthened the doubts that the Congress has been expressing on the results of some seats of Maharashtra Assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha elections. When the Supreme Court gave instructions to the Election Commission, it was believed that Rahul’s hard work has paid off. This also led to the possibility that could there be another yatra, which carries protest and election together?
New identity.
After the SIR controversy, RJD, CPI-ML and other allies welcomed the idea of the yatra. This 16-day yatra will pass through 100 to 125 assembly constituencies. There will be an attempt to woo the extremely backward classes, SC, ST, Muslims and poor sections. Rahul has created a new identity by combining caste census, removal of reservation cap, exposing atrocities and secularism. This is on the lines of Mukesh Sahni’s VIP Party and Dipankar Bhattacharya’s CPI-ML.
Example of UP.
The purpose of Rahul Gandhi’s Bihar visit is to attract the Bahujan Samaj and to make a dent in the vote bank of Nitish Kumar’s JDU and Chirag Paswan’s LJP. Akhilesh Yadav had made a similar strategy in UP last year, in which he was successful. In response to BJP’s extremely backward class, Samajwadi Party created its identity as PDA i.e. a party of backward, Dalit and tribal classes. Rahul Gandhi’s agenda of social justice worked in conjunction with Akhilesh and SP got a spectacular victory in the last Lok Sabha elections.
SP’s victory. From 2004 till now, there is a lot of evidence that shows that in the states where Congress is marginalized, Rahul Gandhi’s presence benefits his allies or ideological rivals more. Rahul’s important role in the victory of the Mahagathbandhan in UP in 2024 is internally accepted. There is even talk that the campaign he launched against the corruption prevalent in UP in 2007 made BSP a villain and this became the basis for the victory of SP in 2012. The Rahul factor also worked during the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra last year. At the same time, despite Congress being a marginal party in Tamil Nadu, DMK gives importance to Rahul’s credibility.
The journey will happen again.
In Sasaram, Tejashwi Yadav was driving the jeep and Rahul was sitting on the seat next to him. This picture indicates that Tejashwi is in the lead role in his state. RJD has the organization, while Congress brings national leadership and ideology, whose face is Rahul. Bihar elections are still a few months away. In such a situation, this trip cannot be the last. It is expected that Rahul will hit the road again when the elections come closer.
Edited by: Sanjeev Kumar
Courtesy: Hindi News