- Monday, April 29, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its supporters often mock Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his alleged failure to boost the party in big elections, the latter’s sympathisers found a golden opportunity to hit back at his critics after the grand-old party looked to secure a majority in the assembly elections in Karnataka held on Wednesday (10).
Ashok Gehlot, chief minister of the north-western state of Rajasthan and a prominent member of the Congress, reacted to the results of the Karnataka elections by attributing the party’s strong performance to Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodi Yatra’ (Unite India March) which took place between September 2022 and January 2023 and covered several states starting from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu in the south to Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir in north.
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— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 13, 2023
Gehlot tweeted in Hindi after the trend in Karnataka results became clear, which in English means, “The atmosphere that was visible in Karnataka during Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is clearly visible in the election results in Karnataka today. Under the leadership of UPA Chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge, Mr. Rahul Gandhi, and Mrs. Priyanka Gandhi, Congress leaders did a great campaign. Karnataka has chosen the politics of development by rejecting communal politics. This will be repeated in the upcoming Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana assembly elections as well.”
श्री राहुल गांधी की भारत जोड़ो यात्रा के दौरान कर्नाटक में जो माहौल दिखा था आज उसी का नतीजा कर्नाटक के चुनाव परिणाम में स्पष्ट दिख रहा है। यूपीए चेयरपर्सन श्रीमती सोनिया गांधी, कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष श्री मल्लिकार्जुन खड़गे, श्री राहुल गांधी एवं श्रीमती प्रियंका गांधी के नेतृत्व में…
— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) May 13, 2023
The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ took place in Karnataka for 21 days starting September 30.
The long march, covering more than 3,500 kilometres, saw Gandhi interacting with local people and he later called it his life’s “most beautiful and profound experiences”.
The 3,570-km “Bharat Jodo Yatra”, which began in Kanyakumari on September 7 and ended in Srinagar on January 30, gave the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi numerous chances to communicate with locals. This march on foot, according to him, was among his life’s “most beautiful and profound experiences.”
Gandhi reacted to the result in Karnataka saying the Congress won the election with the help of ‘Mohabbat’ (love) against forces of ‘Nafrat’ (hatred). “Market of hate shut, shops of love opened,” he said in a press conference in Delhi. Senior parliamentarian Jairam Ramesh was by his side.
The Congress was leading in 139 seats in the 224-member assembly and was set to secure a majority to return to power after four years. They had formed the government after the 2018 elections with Janata Dal (Secular) but the coalition did not last more than a year and fell against a no-confidence motion.
