A tale of two yatras: How Sonia Gandhi took on BJP in 2004 and plans to do so in 2024

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Published : May 16, 2022, 3:28 PM IST

A tale of two yatras: How Sonia Gandhi took on BJP in 2004 and plans to do so in 2024

Another factor which played a crucial role behind the UPA gaining power in 2004 was that Sonia Gandhi forged alliances with like-minded parties. However, there is a key difference this time, said, party insiders. The Congress is desperate to revive the party across the country but, former chief Rahul Gandhi, who is expected to lead the Bharat Jodo Yatra, thinks only the grand old party can defeat the BJP and counter the saffron party ideologically, writes ETV Bharat's Amit Agnihotri.

New Delhi: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is trying to recreate the situation of 2003 when she led a nationwide movement against the NDA government’s Shining India campaign and brought the UPA to power in the 2004 national elections. Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress chief is trying to repeat her strategy through the proposed foot march from Kashmir to Kanyakumari starting October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, against the BJP’s New India campaign.

Congress veterans recalled how Sonia Gandhi travelled across the country to highlight the widespread rural distress to puncture the India Shining campaign of the then ruling NDA. “The Kashmir to Kanyakumari Bharat Jodo yatra will expose the claims of the government. There is large-scale unemployment and people are suffering from high food prices. Plus, the people are also fed up with the divisive politics of the BJP,” former union minister Shakeel Ahmed told ETV Bharat.

Listing the benefits of the proposed Bharat Jodo yatra, Ahmed said that “people have started to realise the truth of the New India campaign. When we explain it to the people that they are not gaining anything, they will understand and support us.” “There were farmer suicides happening. The internal security was not good and people did not get any benefits of the India Shining campaign, which was hollow,” said former AICC general secretary BK Hariprasad. According to Hariprasad, “the planned yatra will energise the party workers and will bring the voters back to the party." “When we hit the streets, it will make a difference,” he said.

Another factor which played a crucial role behind the UPA gaining power in 2004 was that Sonia Gandhi forged alliances with like-minded parties. However, there is a key difference this time, said, party insiders. The Congress is desperate to revive the party across the country but, former chief Rahul Gandhi, who is expected to lead the Bharat Jodo Yatra, thinks only the grand old party can defeat the BJP and counter the saffron party ideologically.

Recently, as Rahul exhorted the party leaders and workers to fight the BJP together, he made it clear that the regional parties cannot meet the challenge mounted by the BJP, hence the onus to step up and take on the ruling party falls on the shoulders of the Congress. The former Congress chief pointed out that the grand old party was not limited to just one state and actually had a support base across the nook and corner of the country. The supporters, he said, needed to be motivated by reaching out to them in order to revive the Congress.

Also read:Sonia Gandhi bats for new energy in party, calls for 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'

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