The expression of apprehension was malevolent in nature. The media was simply playing the saffron tune in its attempt to attenuate the impact of the Yatra and project it as an irrelevant exercise. The Bharat Jodo Yatra movement was launched by Rahul Gandhi and Tamil Nadu chief minister M. K. Stalin; on September 7, 2022. The movement was intended to set a counter narrative and also unite the country against the "divisive and politics of hatred" of RSS and Narendra Modi.

Unlike the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which focused on campaigning against communalism and divisive politics, the Bharat Nyay Yatra focuses on justice for the Dalits, poor, EBCs and minorities along with livelihood issues such as inflation and unemployment. At no stage Rahul projected the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra ( 'India Unity and Justice March') which started on January 14, 2024 from Thoubal in Manipur and will end on 20 March 2024 in Mumbai spanning east-west of India, as a vote-seeking venture. His Yatra has one single mission to arouse the people against the autocratic and communal politics of RSS and BJP.

These media experts and pollsters did not bother to find out the impact of the Yatra at the ground level and whether it has succeeded in making the targeted section of the society think of their own interest. Instead of comparing the gains and outreach of the NDA and INDIA, they have been echoing the claims of Modi that NDA would cross the 400 seat mark in the upcoming elections. In their quest to project Modi was the winner warrior, they tend to ignore the fact INDIA or precisely Congress has nothing to lose.

It had lost to the communalised election of 2019. It has nothing to lose in 2024. Instead, it will interesting to watch what and how much NDA and Modi lose this time. Electorally, the numerical gain of a political party in the east and north India, precisely in Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, and Madhya Pradesh, matters most for coming to power. In Bihar, NDA had won 39 out of 40 and in Jharkhand it had won 12 out of 14. The BJP won 18 of the 42 seats from Bengal.

At national level BJP-led NDA had won 353 seats. The BJP won 37.76% of votes, while the NDA's combined vote was 45% of the 603.7 million votes. Congress won 52 seats. In Bihar and Jharkhand, even if INDIA bloc fails to retrieve its ground, it certainly could not be attributed its loss. Nevertheless, this election is going to be the mother of all battles in Bengal. This is the reason that RSS has taken over the command of the saffron army in the state and spearheading the battle. The incident of Sandeshkhali clearly manifests to what extent the RSS and Modi can subvert the state machinery in the state.

But the situation is quite different and indeed challenging for the RSS and BJP. The saffron ecosystem, ably assisted by the Godi media, had tried to create a deceitful narrative that Dalits, OBCs and EBCs have subscribed its politics of Hindutva. No doubt at some local level, for some local issues and compulsions, they have supported a saffron candidate, but that was not out of ideological or philosophical compulsion or orientation. If the RSS and BJP had motivated these sections to rally behind them, Modi would certainly not have honoured Karpoori Thakur with Bharat Ratna.

The depressed sections of the society, since the days of emergence of socialist movement under the leadership of Thakur in sixties, have been with the regional parties. The BJP has always been a political non-entity in the state. It was the shift of Bhumihar, Rajputs and to some extent of Brahmins away from Congress in eighties that provided with the opportunity for BJP top grow in the state. In both the states, Bihar and Jharkhand, the people from the three upper castes have been the support base for BJP.

It would be out an out a skewed perception to construe that it was the philosophy of Hindu Rashtra and revival of the concept of new Hindutva, that has conjured the upper caste to join the saffron brigade. In fact, it was the emergence of class war in Bihar in seventies, eighties and nineties and compulsion to preserve their class interest that made them look towards the BJP as its emancipator. It is a known fact how these upper caste leaders used the senior journalists stationed in Delhi to influence the judiciary through the RSS leaders and BJP ministers.

Though the slogan of Hindutva has undoubtedly mesmerised the Dalits, OBCs and EBCs, they had not forgotten the feudal torture and oppression meted out to them by the upper-caste landlords. A look at the elections results since nineties would make it distinctly clear that these people relied on the regional parties like RJD, JD(U) or CPI(ML) or IPF, championing their cause. It something else that leaders like Nitish Kumar exploited them for their personal gains. But in that exploitation the element of adherence to communal political line is completely absent.

Either it was the election of 2005, 2010, 2015 or 2020, BJP could not emerge as a potential force. It came to power by using Nitish. It would not be a hyperbole to say Nitish has been an indirect founder of BJP in Bihar. In a state having the legacy of left to centre and leftist politics, he provided the ground to BJP to grow and flourish. The electoral performance of RJD and CPI(ML), earlier Indian Peoples Front (IPF) is a testimony to it. CPI(ML) is the only communist party in Bihar which has grassroot cadre and support since its opening. It has been winning not less than dozens of assembly seats on its own without entering into any alliance. Even in 2020, it won 16 on its own. Ironically, on some of the seats the RJD had fielded its candidates. But the RJD could not ensure the victory of its candidates.

In Jharkhand, after its creation in 2000, the BJP is dependent on the support of the upper caste people, those migrated to Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Ramgarh and other towns. Ranchi and Hazaribagh have significant population of Kayasthas. But after eighties the Brahmins, Bhumihars and Rajputs migrated there. Politically, the Kayasthas and Brahmins sided with the Congress. But the Congress could not counter the strength of JMM, which was working amongst the tribals with Marxist Coordination Council of veteran Marxist-Leninist A K Roy. In that backdrop, the upper-caste people had before them the BJP as the only tenable and serving alternative. Riding on the bandwagon of BJP, they usurped the land and forest of the adivasis. These people were the mainstay base for the corporate houses like Adanis.

BJP has been put its all might in the three states of eastern India: Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal. Going by the mood of the people, more precisely the response Rahul’s BJNY received in Bihar and Jharkhand, it could safely be said that he has succeeded in his mission to make people realise the fallacy of voting on religious line. The incredible response to the Jana Vishwas Rally of RJD leader Tejashvi simply underlines peoples’ trust in INDIA bloc and their craving for a dignified life.

A visit to the rural areas of Bihar would make it abundantly clear the politics of secular forces and RSS-BJP Hindutva politics, which is of felonious nature. The media has been indulging in its dirty game to project the INDIA as a non-starter in these two states, as so far they have no sorted out the issue of seat-sharing. But senior Congress leader from Jharkhand, Subodh Kant Sahay, and even members of the JMM think tank assert that it has been already been sorted out and they have been waiting for the BJP to make the move. They are also waiting for the March 3 public rally of INDIA to be held in Gandhi Maidan of Patna.

The March 3 public meet will be the most memorable day in the contemporary politics Bihar and Jharkhand. This is for the first time in recent times the constituents of INDIA bloc would join shoulders to commit to fight out the BJP from the state. Senior INDIA leaders claim that it would virtually herald launching of the election campaign in the state. For strategic reasons, senior INDIA leaders are holding back the names and seats on which they would contest.

Going by the mood in the INDIA bloc, it appears that time is waiting for them. Their mission is to reach out to the oppressed people and offer them the candidate of their choice. The exercise is nether hair-spitting nor quite stretching. The constituents RJD, CPI(ML), CPI(M), CPI and Congress are too willing to accommodate others. With Nitish joining NDA, the INDIA bloc is left with extra 16 seats which was in possession of JD(U) of Nitish. (IPA Service)