Brakes on the yatra

Rahul Gandhi and his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra brigade is presently bogged down in Guwahati where he and the state chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma are locked in a bitter war of words which have also given the latter the opportunity he could not have received, to virtually derail the yatra. The yatra began from the alternative venjue at Thoubal on January 14, after Manipur the government headed by former Congressman and BJP chief minister restricted number of attendees at the proposed launch from the Palace Ground , Imphal. The yatra entered Khuzama Nagaland on January 15 and after a night halt at Viswema village, Rahul travelled to Kohima, Tseminyu, Wokha and Mokokchung, where he was given a rousing reception all along the route. After passing through Nagaland, the yatra fell into slippery ground in Assam when the authorities under the Himanta Sharma led-BJP government raised technical objections at Jorhat for allegedly deviating from the BJNY’s permitted route inside Jorhat town. An FIR was lodgded against the in-charge of the yatra route plan. Later the yatra entered Arunachal Pradesh on January 20 where it was greeted provocative shouts of “Jai Sri Ram” on its route by BJP workers. Next day the yatra returned to its planned route to Guwahati. However, with political temperatures running high as the war of words escalated between Rahul and chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, there were charges of miscreants damaging yatra posters and cars related with the event. The atmosphere henceforth was super charged as police erected barricades to prevent the yatra from proceeding to Guwahati City. The Assam government asked the yatra to take another route which was rejected. Chief Minister Himanta Sarma maintained that a yatra of such scale would disrupt public life in the city. However it’s a different matter that several big-ticket roadshows, including those by the BJP, have happened in Guwahati. The Congress also claimed that the yatra had been refused access to a college and a school property for container stationing and night stops. In response, Sarma stated that colleges and schools cannot be granted permission while they are in session. On January 22, Rahul wanted to visit Nagaon’s Bordowa Than, the birthplace of Vaishnavite saint Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev, revered as a father figure in Assam. Two days before the visit, Himanta Biswa Sarma had asked Rahul to avoid visiting the shrine on January 22, the day of consecration of the Ram temple. On January 21, the shrine authority publicly released a letter, requesting Rahul to postpone his visit till 3 pm on January 22 as a big crowd was expected at the shrine to celebrate the inauguration of the Ram temple. For whatever reasons, Rahul’s yatra landed at the place at 8 a.m. and that’s when police and Congress workers engaged in a physical tussle. The Congress has again alleged that the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam government has been creating hurdles for the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra ‘every hour’ as it the state. The problems in Assam and to some extent, Meghalaya, serve to highlight the fact that BJP and NPP (in Meghalaya) were reacting to Rahul’s attacks. Rahul would have served the yatra objective better had he exhibited some degree of maturity with his remarks. Anyway, the fad with T-shirts and sneakers and yatra seems more as exciting youthful physical engagements and less about showing political sagacity to prove one’s ability to be seen as a serious contender for the top job.