Why BJP is likely to restrict Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kashmir

The Narendra Modi government cannot afford to have thousands of Kashmiris join Rahul Gandhi. Should that happen, the Centre’s entire narrative in J&K would unravel

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) is expected to enter Jammu on January 19/20, and reach its grand finale on January 30 in Srinagar.

In the past the best laid plans of marching into Srinagar to hoist the Tricolour have tended to be thwarted by the government of the day in the name of security threats. However, the J&K administration has given permission to the BJY claiming there were no inputs for any possible security threat.

The Director General of Police of J&K, Dilbag Singh, has, however, left open the possibility for the administration to reduce the size of Gandhi’s cavalcade proceeding to Srinagar on foot, telling the media, “a huge yatra can cause inconvenience to people as roads can get blocked.” He added that further regulation of the BJY by the administration will be “guided from the security point of view as well wherever it is needed”.

This leaves the option open for the administration, to cite security and public convenience, to attenuate the BJY, and let only a group led by Gandhi to unfurl the Tricolour at the Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium, in Srinagar. The exact course of action will probably also be dictated by the kind of crowds Gandhi attracts.

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A template already exists for converting a large yatra into a symbolic one. In 1992, the Ekta Yatra of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murali Manohar Joshi led a drive through 14 states beginning from Kanyakumari that was to also culminate in Srinagar with hoisting the Tricolour at Lal Chowk, on January 26. The young Narendra Modi, was convenor of Joshi’s yatra. It was the height of militancy in J&K, and Joshi boasted, "We have more volunteers than the militants have bullets."

However, Joshi’s motorcade was stopped at Patnitop on way to Srinagar, and he was flown with a few colleagues in an Indian Air Force AN-32 under the cover of darkness to the BSF mess in Srinagar. The next day their police motorcade to Lal Chowk was greeted by sounds of gunshots. Joshi attempted to quickly hoist the Tricolour he had carried from Kanyakumari, but the flagpole broke in two — the day was saved by the BSF providing a flag which was duly hoisted. The grand finale was merely symbolic, lasting just 17 minutes with Joshi and his party hurrying back to the airport.

More recently, in August 2019, 20 days after the revocation of the special status of J&K and its bifurcation, 11 Opposition leaders, including Gandhi, were turned back from the Srinagar airport itself. The rationale given was that their going into Srinagar would have put “people into inconvenience”, an explanation reiterated now by Singh.

The Congress has invited leaders of 21 ‘like-minded’ parties — potential alliance partners for the 2024 general election — to attend the culmination of the 3,570-km walkathon. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in his invitation letter to the leaders of these Opposition parties has specified the ideological goals of the celebration planned for the climax of the BJY. “At this event, we will commit ourselves to fighting hatred and violence, to spread the message of truth, compassion and non-violence and defend the constitutional values of liberty, equality, fraternity and justice for all.”

The parties left out are those that the Congress believes have a tacit understanding with the BJP, and have been staunchly opposed to the Congress — the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the YSR Congress Party, the Biju Janata Dal, Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, and Badruddin Ajmal’s All India United Democratic Front. The Congress clearly wants to organise the first tentative conclave of its potential alliance partners as the crowning glory of the conclusion of the BJY. This is also something that the BJP government would not want to happen.

So how likely is it that the Union government and its proxy administration in J&K would allow Gandhi to complete his national pilgrimage in Srinagar as planned by the Congress? It would not make sense for the BJP to allow the high point of the BJY to take place in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir, which many feel has borne the brunt of its communal and majoritarian ideology — precisely the divisiveness that the BJY has aimed to counter.

However, the prospect of the people of J&K being enthused by the BJY may not be real. The objections of the Congress on removing the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution and Article 35A, and the bifurcation of J&K were merely procedural. Initially many of its leaders spoke in favour of the Modi government’s move.

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It was only later, after Parliament had put its seal on the two proposals, that Congress’ Central Working Committee with great difficulty managed to pass a resolution that what the government had done had grave implications for the “idea of India being a union of states”. The CWC resolution read, “The CWC deplores the unilateral, brazen and totally undemocratic manner in which Article 370 was abrogated and the State of Jammu and Kashmir was dismembered.” It did not promise any redress to the people of the erstwhile state.

Yet, it may be that desperate Kashmiri people see a political opening in Gandhi’s overture and his message of brotherhood and inclusiveness. Should they join the BJY in large numbers, the focus of the media — both national and international — would be on Kashmir again.

The present security clearance given to the BJY may be because it fits in with the Centre’s narrative that the situation in the Union Territory is back to normal and that the security situation has improved vastly. Yet, the reality is that the government can ill-afford to have thousands of Kashmiris in rural areas, through which the BJY will pass, join Gandhi. Should that happen, the Centre’s entire narrative in J&K would unravel as such outpouring would be seen as an expression of public anger against its Kashmir policy.

For this reason alone, the BJP may not want a full-fledged BJY to travel from Jammu to Kashmir valley, and we may yet see attempts to curtail it politically and symbolically.

(Bharat Bhushan is a Delhi-based journalist. The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)