Did the Bharat Jodo & Nyay Yatras Boost Congress & Allies’ Prospects?

By: Damini Mehta

The Yatra was widely considered a boost to Gandhi's personal image and politics, and several experts doubted its relevance in contributing to the Congress’ agenda and organization.

The 2024 Lok Sabha elections marked a significant moment for the Congress party and its allies in the INDIA bloc. Central to their strategy were two major outreach initiatives led by Congress Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi: the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. These yatras not only aimed to strengthen voter connections but also to bolster Rahul Gandhi's political image.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra, conducted between September 2022 and January 2023, was a monumental undertaking that saw Gandhi cover over 4,000 kilometers across 75 districts and 71 Lok Sabha constituencies in 12 states and two Union territories. Starting in Kanyakumari and concluding in Kashmir, this yatra included 12 public meetings, over 100 street-corner meetings, and 13 press conferences. 

In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the Congress in alliance with other parties under the INDIA banner, independently contested 56 of the 71 seats the Yatra covered, whereas its allies placed candidates on the remaining 14 seats. The Congress won 23 of these 51 seats, up from just 15 in 2019, whereas its allies managed to bag six of the 14 seats they contested, a jump of four compared to 2019.

The Yatra was widely considered a boost to Gandhi's personal image and politics, and several experts doubted its relevance in contributing to the Congress’ agenda and organization. The Yatra was especially called out for giving limited space to regional leaders, second rung leadership, and the cadre, which, at the time, was the much needed medicine the struggling Congress organization needed. However, election results show that the Yatra, apart from putting Gandhi on the center stage of Indian politics and propping him as a mass leader, was effective in giving electoral dividends to not only the struggling Congress but the opposition too.

Between January 14 and March 16, 2024, the Congress party, again under the leadership of Gandhi, began the second phase of the Yatra, renaming it the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra with a stated agenda to provide Nyay, or justice from the BJP government's atrocities, to every section of society. The Yatra covered an even larger distance, traversing 6,713 kilometers from Imphal in Manipur to Mumbai in Maharashtra, primarily by bus.

This second yatra aimed to reinforce the gains from the first and reach new constituencies. Of the 82 Lok Sabha seats traversed by the Yatra, the Congress party placed candidates on 49 Lok Sabha seats in the recently concluded elections and now has MPs on 17 of these seats, up from just six in 2019. It is worth noting that the second yatra covered a large portion of the Hindi heartland, which is considered a traditional stronghold of the BJP. The Congress' allies in INDIA now have MPs in 18 of the 33 seats they contested on the Nyay Yatra's route, up from zero in 2019. 

This yatra brought about notable gains in several states. For instance, in Karnataka, the Congress won three out of seven seats, a significant improvement from winning none in 2019. Similarly, in Rajasthan, the Congress turned around its 2019 losses to win three out of five constituencies covered during the first yatra.

Keeping in mind other factors that might have contributed to the seat conversion on both the Yatra’s routes, Congress and allies performed significantly well in states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, and Jharkhand. However, in states like Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Odisha, the party and the alliance either maintained their position or worsened their performance in the seats where the Yatra went.

The combined efforts of the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra significantly boosted the performance of the Congress and its allies in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The targeted voter outreach and Rahul Gandhi's enhanced public image played crucial roles in turning around their fortunes in several key constituencies. While challenges remain in certain states, the overall gains reflect a positive trend for the INDIA bloc.