UP, Gujarat likely to be focus of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Nyay Yatra

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s upcoming Bharat Nyay Yatra, which would start from January 14 in Manipur’s Imphal, is likely to accord added importance to some of the 14 states in its route, which includes Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

Although the final route of the march is yet to be decided, Gandhi might spend nearly a week in both these states, underscoring their political importance, two leaders said, requesting anonymity. In Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for 80 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress has only one MP, Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli. For the past two Lok Sabha polls, all 26 seats in Gujarat have gone to the Bharatiya Janata Party. It has been in power in the state since 1998.

The states not covered during the last year’s Bharat Jodo Yatra will be given priority in the Bharat Nyay Yatra, said the two leaders who are involved in the planning of the march. “Both UP and Gujarat will be given prominence during the yatra. The Bharat Jodo Yatra didn’t touch Gujarat and spent just three days in UP. This time, we might spend 6-7 days both in UP and Gujarat,” one of them said.

The Bharat Nyay Yatra, the latest outreach by Gandhi, will have the central theme of “saving the Constitution” and cover an average 120 km daily for two months by bus in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The march will cover 14 states and 85 districts. The final route will be decided in a meeting on January 8.

The tentative route has just one day in Manipur and Nagaland and 3-4 days in Assam before entering West Bengal. In West Bengal, where the Congress has just two Lok Sabha MPs, the yatra will focus on the northern part of the state, which was once a stronghold of the Congress.

“North Bengal is also important for us as out of the four seats in that area, three are reserved constituencies. The yatra might not even come to Kolkata and south Bengal, which is a Trinamool bastion, but focus on the Congress’ strongholds,” said the second leader.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress had won 21 seats in 2009 and helped the Manmohan Singh government bag more than 200 seats and remain in power at the Centre. Since then, its fortunes have been on the wane. From 21 in 2009, the number of Congress declined to two in 2014 and further to just one in 2019.

“In the Bharat Jodo Yatra, we had to skip Gujarat purely for logistical issues as the yatra would have gone longer. This time, Rahul Gandhi might travel extensively in Gujarat, which would be covered before the yatra enters Maharashtra,” another Congress leader said, declining to be named.

The 14 states that the Bharat Nyay Yatra will cover in 55 days will contribute 358 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming general elections.

Gandhi and other yatris might sleep in containers during the march that would be flagged off at Imphal in the violence-hit Manipur on January 14 and reach Mumbai on March 20. Congress, the principal opposition party, has decided to invite INDIA group leaders for the yatra to give it a wider political platform.

The yatra would be different in character from the last year’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, but is expected to mobilize local Congress units, further add to Gandhi’s pan-Indian outreach and give critical inputs for the party’s manifesto for 2024 Lok Sabha polls, a senior Congress leader said.