New Delhi: Next time Rahul Gandhi is in your state on an official visit, chances are that you will find him holding coaching classes on Japanese martial arts form jiu-jitsu, a kind of self-defence training that discourages violent aggression.
The suggestion that Rahul will hold such camps across the country was made by the Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition himself, as he posted a video clip on social media showing his jiu-jitsu class with a group of children held during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“On this #NationalSportsDay, I want to share our experience with all of you, hoping to inspire some of you to take up the practice of the ‘Gentle Art’. P.S.: Bharat Dojo Yatra is coming soon,” Rahul, who holds a blue belt in jiu-jitsu and black belt in Aikido, wrote on X Thursday.
During the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, as we journeyed across thousands of kilometers, we had a daily routine of practicing jiu-jitsu every evening at our campsite. What began as a simple way to stay fit quickly evolved into a community activity, bringing together fellow yatris and… pic.twitter.com/Zvmw78ShDX
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 29, 2024
Aikido also comes under the broad umbrella of jiu-jitsu, while “dojo” in Japanese stands for “place of practice”, like akhada is used to refer to a mud wrestling pit in Hindi. Jiu-jitsu is also popularly known as the gentle art for its emphasis on conflict resolution through non-violent self-defence techniques, such as grappling and pinning.
“It will not be a yatra like Bharat Jodo Yatra. But the idea is to hold self-defence training camps with children and youngsters whenever Rahul Gandhi is visiting a state for at least two days. It is much along the lines of his appeal to the youth to shun violence and aggression and channel their anger into productive means,” a Congress functionary told ThePrint.
As part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul covered over 4,000 km between Kanyakumari and Srinagar between September 2022 and January 2023 on foot. He had followed it up with the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on a bus that touched 14 states from Manipur to Maharashtra between January and March 2024.
The announcement on the proposed “Bharat Dojo Yatra” is also significant as it comes against the backdrop of the nationwide outrage over the rape and murder of a doctor undergoing postgraduate training at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
In 2021, while interacting with students at St Teresa’s College in Kochi, Rahul had imparted Aikido training to a group of female students, teaching them how they can hold the ground using the energy of people physically attacking them.
“I’ll tell you a secret that men will never tell you, women are much more powerful than men,” he had said then. Even during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul held several such training sessions, along with other trained jiu-jitsu instructors.
“During the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, as we journeyed across thousands of kilometres, we had a daily routine of practising jiu-jitsu every evening at our campsite. What began as a simple way to stay fit quickly evolved into a community activity, bringing together fellow yatris and young martial arts students from the towns where we stayed,” Rahul said on X.
“Our goal was to introduce these young minds to the beauty of the ‘Gentle Art’—a harmonious blend of meditation, jiu-jitsu, Aikido, and non-violent conflict resolution techniques. We aimed to instil in them the value of transforming violence into gentleness, giving them the tools to build a more compassionate and safer society,” he added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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