BJP fires meme as Rahul Gandhi begins day 2 of Congress's revival journey
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, September 9
As former Congress president Rahul Gandhi began day two of Bharat Jodo Yatra, which is being seen as the party’s attempt to revive itself, the ruling BJP hit back with a caustic meme.
The BJP fielded Assam Chief Minister and former Congressman Himanta Biswa Sarma to target Rahul Gandhi.
Sarma posted a Twitter meme titled ‘Rahul naam mera…bhaiya record badnaam mera’.
राहुल नाम मेरा … pic.twitter.com/PRWIHiIaJ8
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) September 9, 2022
Earlier on Friday, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh announced the commencement of the second day of the yatra saying it started with flag-hoisting at 7am in Tamil Nadu’s Nagercoil.
“Bharat Yatris were joined by 89-year-old freedom fighter Kodikal Sheikh Abdullah. He inspired others by highlighting the need to stand up, unite and fight for the soul of our nation,” said Jairam.
The yatra route stretches from Kanyakumari to Kashmir passing through 12 states and two UTs with 119 travellers, including Rahul Gandhi, pledging to walk the entire stretch of 3,500 km in five months in an attempt to build mass contact with the people.
With the BJP going all out to attack Gandhi for his “inconsistent politics” as showcased in Sarma’s meme and the opposition leaders not even mentioning the Congress marginally in their take-on-the-BJP plan for 2024 (Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee mentioned Bihar’s Nitish Kumar, Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren, UP’s Akhilesh Yadav and Telangana’s K Chandrashekhar Rao in her public rally on Thursday but not Rahul), it remains to be seen how the Congress will regain its primacy in the non-BJP landscape which is witnessing the emergence of several leaders keen to pilot the opposition camp.
For the Congress, immediate expected outcomes from the mass outreach would be victories in election-bound Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, both ruled by an aggressive BJP and both witnessing a slow emergence of AAP which rules in two states like the Congress.
AAP’s challenge to the Congress is also imminent in both Gujarat and Himachal which have traditionally seen direct contests between the BJP and the Congress. Recent history shows that the AAP has always gained at the expense of the Congress. The party wrested Delhi from a three-term Congress CM Sheila Dikshit and then took Punjab where, too, the Congress was its principal rival.
In the 2021 Gujarat municipal polls too, the AAP emerged as the principal opposition in Surat MC relegating Congress to the third position while the BJP won all six MC bodies.
The first test of Rahul Gandhi’s mass contact yatra would be the Gujarat and Himachal elections later this year, followed by the nine assembly polls, including in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only states Congress holds on its own, in 2023.
