Someday on the Karnataka leg of the Yatra, my little group sat down with a gaggle we had been strolling with all that morning. This was within the afternoon break between the 2 periods of strolling. We had been sitting in chairs outdoors two monumental tents. One had dozens of cots on which the yatris had been resting. The opposite had lengthy tables at which individuals sat to eat a easy lunch, served to them on shiny inexperienced banana leaves.
Completed with lunch, our new associates had been discussing why that they had joined the Yatra. Mohan, a squat man with a greying beard, appeared to be working via his causes proper there after which, musing in some marvel: “, I’ve been anti-Congress all my life. So why am I right here in any respect?” He stopped to gather his ideas. “It’s simply that now there’s this assault on Indian democracy,” he stated.
A number of individuals nodded. No person wanted Mohan to spell out what he meant. He went on: “So I wish to defeat that and save democracy.”
He appeared immediately conscious of the complete weight of what he had simply stated. Then: “It’s significantly better that we begin getting organised a year-and-a-half earlier than the elections, as an alternative of solely a month earlier than.” A number of others nodded once more.
Quickly after, Mohan obtained as much as depart. After two days with the Yatra, he and his associates had been returning dwelling that afternoon. It was solely after he disappeared that I realised I had not truly stated bye. For I had been sitting there, misplaced in ideas spurred by his phrases.
Sure, the Yatra was occurring a 12 months and a half earlier than the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Sure, it was a largely Congress present. Sure, Rahul Gandhi dominated the protection. Sure, there have been and are questions concerning the Yatra’s objective and which means, even among the many small group I had include. However with all that, there was nonetheless an overriding focus amongst many who joined the Yatra: by no means thoughts previous disagreements, by no means thoughts the necessity to maintain your nostril if you must. For now, there’s a shared crucial: get up and be counted, in opposition to the social gathering in energy right now.
Seen that means, it’s an ironic reminder of an earlier second in our historical past. That’s when a gaggle of events got here collectively – trying previous disagreements and holding their noses, sure certainly – to type a coalition to collectively battle the upcoming election. I seek advice from 1977, after all. Ironic, as a result of the shared crucial was to face as much as the social gathering then in energy – which was the Congress.
And that 12 months, the motley Janata coalition managed to dislodge the Congress. That the coalition didn’t final is one other story, however in 1977 their nice success was defeating the Congress. Throughout and after the Yatra, I used to be not persuaded that it could – and even may – construct up momentum and energy on that 1977 scale. However in some methods, and at the least for now, that was irrelevant
One face of the Yatra was the Congress. You would possibly say, and also you’d be proper, that it’s a celebration in some disarray and despair, due to its nosediving political fortunes over the past a number of years. It has misplaced elections, it has misplaced veteran Congress-wallahs, it has factions sniping at one another. If this Yatra was a approach to rebuild political capital, to galvanise Congress activists, to point out the Indian voter that this social gathering won’t roll over and fade away – properly, for anybody who values Indian democracy, that’s welcome.
However one other face altogether of the Yatra – and that’s the face that really caught my consideration and creativeness – was the variety of people that joined. There have been individuals like Yogendra Yadav, or Mohan above – identified and extreme critics of the Congress prior to now. However there have been others as properly, they usually got here to the Yatra with their very own extremely various palette of points.
I imply LGBTQ activists and farmers, guide scavengers and school-kids, unemployed youth and nomadic tribes and plenty of extra. Once more, if the Yatra was a automobile for them to convey their issues to the eye of the Congress, but in addition to the nation as a complete – properly, that was welcome too. As a result of to me, this wealthy, vibrant variety is the authenticity and promise of India itself. It’s what breathed spirit and life into the Yatra.
And why was I there? Partly, after all, as a result of the Yatra set my journalistic antennae to quivering sharply. I wished to easily watch and observe, in some sense not even actually invested within the success or in any other case of the Yatra. However principally, as I spelt out above, this was one thing I felt I needed to do to face as much as the divisiveness, the hatreds, the polarisations which can be marking out and deepening so many fault traces on this nation. My solidarity with – luxuriating in, extra prefer it – the variety of India might imply little or no in any broader sense to anybody else. Nevertheless it meant a fantastic deal to me, and that’s what took me to the Yatra.
However there in Karnataka, I used to be additionally accompanying a small group of public well being professionals. Two of them had been Ravi and Ramani, my brother and his spouse, medical doctors educated in group well being. They’ve labored in major well being take care of years in rural Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Two different associates and colleagues, Guru and Prasanna, had been alongside as properly – not medical doctors, however they’ve labored for years with public well being outreach organisations.
Over a number of days earlier than we joined the Yatra, the 4 of them had ready a short on public well being issues – malnutrition, proper to well being care and extra. Their aim was handy the temporary over to the Congress leaders within the Yatra, together with Rahul Gandhi. (They gave it to me to learn and I had a few minor strategies, which is why they added my title to the temporary.) By means of numerous contacts, we had truly scheduled a gathering – in the course of the noon break on the Monday we walked – with Gandhi and others. Our group would current the temporary then. Solely, that assembly was cancelled the night earlier than. There have been a couple of too many teams lined up throughout that noon break; some farmers, notably, wished to fulfill Gandhi. So as an alternative, the organisers organized for us to stroll with Gandhi for some time that morning.
As soon as we had been positioned alongside him and strolling, Ramani and Prasanna spoke to Gandhi concerning the temporary. Now I’m terminally cynical about politicians, and particularly at a second like this when Gandhi was surrounded by surging crowds calling his title and wanting pictures. It’s a measure of my cynicism that I actually didn’t count on him to essentially take note of us. However even whereas waving out now and again and acknowledging the group, he listened intently to the temporary. He requested a collection of questions, difficult and making Ramani and Prasanna again up their knowledge and conclusions.
One instance: Ramani talked about her expertise with migrant employees in Rajasthan. They get injured at work and attempt to get the free well being care that’s out there in that state. However as a result of their Aadhaar card is from Bihar, say, they’re denied therapy. Why ought to that be? However Gandhi requested, properly, how will a state cope if floods of individuals from one other state are available in to benefit from the introduced free care?
After some time, I took the possibility to talk to Gandhi about my guide, The Deoliwallahs: The True Story of the 1962 Chinese language-Indian Internment. I stated that whereas I admired and revered his great-grandfather, this imprisonment of 3000 Chinese language-Indians was one in all his errors. My co-author Pleasure Ma, I identified, was born within the camp and spent her first 4 years there. The Chinese language-Indian group is eager for an acknowledgement of and apology for this injustice. Gandhi listened rigorously, then requested me to ship him a duplicate of the guide. Which, a couple of months later, I did.
We remarked how properly the Yatra was continuing. Gandhi stated that was true, however we should always do not forget that organisation and mobilisation are two various things. What we may see on the Yatra was mobilisation. That’s simply carried out, however it’s short-lived. What the Congress wants, he stated, was to remodel mobilisation into organisation.
Excerpted with permission from Roadwalker: A Few Miles of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Dilip D’Souza, Penguin India.