Chitradurga (Karnataka): The boulder-strewn landscape of Chitradurga, in present-day Karnataka, had served as the battlefield where Bhim, one of the five Pandava brothers, had vanquished the demon Hidimb and married his sister Hidimbi (also known as Hidimba), says the Indian epic, The Mahabharata. The boulders found here were once used in that mythological battle, it is said.
For the past few days, however, what’s been catching the eyes are not the famed boulders, but posters of Congress leaders — past, present and aspiring — that crowd the roads and highways of the district.
For the past three days, Congress leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Rahul Gandhi has been traversing the district on foot, as part of his ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra. Carefully-crafted Kannada songs blare out from loudspeakers, in which the names of Rahul, Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar and former chief minister Siddaramaiah stand out.
The Yatra is making all the right moves — the mention of Shivakumar’s and Siddaramaiah’s names is a subtle nod to intraparty dynamics and the concerns ordinary Congress workers share about how the perceived power tussle between the two Karnataka stalwarts will play out in the next year’s assembly elections.
Party leaders have interacted with people in wheelchairs and talked about issues of joblessness with a chosen group of 1,500 young men. There have been performances by local folk artistes to focus on their issues, and to ensure they get noticed, groups of people often wear t-shirts highlighting their issues.
For ordinary Congress workers, many of whom are walking only the Karnataka leg of the marathon, the Yatra has brought unique and memorable opportunities for one-on-one interactions with their leader. Devoid of his usual tight security cordon and spending nights in temporary container-shelters, Rahul seems to be making an impression among that masses, which is independent of that of his illustrious family.
“This has been a unique experience. It is very nice to see ordinary people flocking to see him, wanting to showcase their cultures. And he is letting them do it,” said Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) general secretary Kavitha Reddy.
She added: “I had a brief conversation with him, nothing political. I am a mountaineer. We talked about our institutes — his mountaineering institute versus mine. I told him I have two dogs. He started looking into his phone. I was surprised. Then he showed me a photo of his dog. He said ‘I lost him’. I was very touched.”
Around her, as the Yatra neared the Hirehalli toll plaza Wednesday, for its evening break, the participants break into impromptu jigs in front of the just-switched floodlights, matching steps with the Bharat Jodo Yatra jingle, in utter disregard of the gathering dusk and brooding clouds.
While Reddy and a few of her colleagues joined the Yatra when it entered Karnataka on 30 September, went back home for the two-day Dussehra break and intend to continue till it enters neighbouring Telangana (reportedly on 23 October), another participant, Avni Bansal a Congress worker from Madhya Pradesh, has braved blisters and thigh rashes to stay on the road for every one of the 36 days that Rahul has been walking.
During the Dussehra break, Bansal and 32 other yatris pledged their eyes, ahead of Wednesday’s leg of the walk, when Rahul walked hand-in-hand with family members of organ donors from Karnataka.
“We met him and he was very happy that we had pledged our eyes. I told him about the shortage of not just eyes, but all other organs in India. In the US, every driving licence mentions whether a person has agreed to donate organs so that if they pass away, the needful can be done. He said he will now give serious thought to pledging his eyes,” Bansal, a Supreme Court lawyer, told ThePrint.
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‘I recommended a book to Rahul’
Many of the Congress workers have similar anecdotes to share about their interactions with Rahul — most of them apolitical.
In 2018, Lavanya Ballal gave up her career as a radio jockey to become a full-time Congress worker. She is currently a part of the Congress’ communication team and walking for the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari. Her conversation with “RG” was also apolitical.
“We were talking about Jainism. I recommended a book on Jainism with an atheist perspective called Samay Sara. Yesterday (Wednesday) I also gave him the book. There is also this one other issue I talked to him about. I requested him that he should ask all MLAs, MPs, legislators (from the party) to ensure there are (public) toilets for women. Women in our country fall ill either because there are no bathrooms available and they hold for too long or because the bathroom that is available is too dirty,” Ballal told ThePrint.
Many participants are specially-abled, some of them visually impaired. It was this which acted as a trigger for those who pledged to donate their eyes, said Bansal.
Physical impairments have, however, failed to the act as a drawback for the participants.
Sandeep Kumar, one of the Congress workers taking part in the Yatra, has a polio-stricken leg. He’s still determined to finish the Karnataka leg of the Yatra.
“He (Rahul Gandhi) asked me what happened to my leg. One girl (among a group of specially-abled people whom Rahul Gandhi met) told him that the disability pension of Rs 1,400 per month (received under central and state schemes) is too little. He promised to raise the issue in Parliament,” Kumar told ThePrint in Kannada, as one of his party colleagues translated it (to English).
Kumar also showed ThePrint a photo on his mobile phone where he is posing with Rahul.
The family connect
Despite Rahul’s personal charms and his willingness to engage with fellow yatra participants and those among the audience, however, the Gandhi name remains the biggest draw, as those living along the Yatra route crowd for a glimpse of “Nehru’s great grandson”, “Indira’s grandson” and “Rajiv’s son”.
Sachin, a Chitradurga resident, who had brought his grandmother to see the Yatra pass at Challakere said, “she wants to see Rajiv’s son”.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who has been walking in the Yatra for five days a week since it started last month, is, however, not unduly worried about Rahul’s family connect overshadowing his public image.
“The one common theme that I see in his interactions with common people is the refrain ‘you are the hope’. In all these days, I saw only one old woman walk up to him and say ‘you remind me of Indira’,” Ramesh told ThePrint.
He added: “We are getting some ticket seekers, but that is inevitable with the (Karnataka) elections just six months away. If you ask me, the Yatra has benefited from that because people are competing to show their clout, bring people, to impress him. The fact that BJP mounted their own Jan Sankalp Yatra (which started this week) in Karnataka shows that our Yatra is a success.”
Karnataka is the first BJP-ruled state that the Bharat Jodo Yatra has passed through since it started in September. The participants, Ramesh alleged, are having to contend with a hostile police force, creating unnecessary hurdles.
Rain, too, has been playing spoiler. On Thursday, the Yatris had to change their night halt location and take shelter in a temple as the original place in Rampura had flooded.
Earlier this month, an image of Rahul addressing the masses in the pouring rain during a meeting in Bengaluru as part of the Yatra, went viral on social media, with fans voicing vociferous support for the Congress leader.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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