From Rath Yatra To Bharat Jodo Yatra: Rahul Gandhi Is The Latest To March Across India, Here Are Other Yatras

The Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra was completed on Sunday with the unfurling of the national flag at Srinagar's Lal Chowk. 

The Bharat Jodo Yatra will culminate on Monday in a Rahul-led rally at Srinagar's Sher-i-Kashmir stadium. 

Though Rahul has said that the goal of the Bharat Jodo Yatra was to unite India against hatred, there was also a certain a political dimension to it. The Yatra as aimed at reviving the struggling the Congress party and prepare the groundwork for 2024 general elections. 

Though the scale of Rahul's Bharat Jodo Yatra is unmatched in recent years, the idea of a march across the nation is not unique. Former Prime Ministers Chandra Shekhar and Atal Bihari Vajpayee are among the leaders who took out marches. Then there is the widely influential Rath Yatra of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart Lal Krishna Advani, which turned Ayodhya's Ram Mandir into a mass movement. 

As Bharat Jodo Yatra culminates in Srinagar today, here are some of the yatras in recent decades that sought to capture the people's imaginations. 

1983, Chandra Shekhar's Bharat Yatra: 

Nearly four decades ago, former Prime Minister and then Janata Party leader Chandr Shekhar embarked upon a pad yatra from Tamil Nadu's Kanniyakumari, from where the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra also began on September 8 last year after a launch event a day earlier.

Monikers such as the 'Marathon man' were given to Chandra Shekhar when six months after he began on January 6, 1983, the yatra reached New Delhi. His stature and the traction to the yatra went on rising as he passed village after village during his march for connecting with the people.

Though observers regard the padayatra as largely a success, dramatic political developments such as Indira Gandhi's assassination diluted its impact in the 1984 elections, which were swept by Rajiv Gandhi.

1985, Congress Sandesh Yatra of Rajiv Gandhi

The Sandesh Yatra was announced by the then Prime Minister and Congress President Rajiv Gandhi at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) plenary in Mumbai. The All India Congress Seva Dal carried it out across India.

Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) and Congress leaders carried out the yatra as four simultaneous journeys from Mumbai, Kashmir, Kanniyakumari, and the Northeast. The yatra concluded at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan after over three months.

1990, Rath Yatra of Lal Krishna Advani

The Rath Yatra was taken out by LK Advani to give momentum to the Ram Temple movement in Ayodhya. The yatra that started in September 1990 in Gujarat's Somnath was to cover 10,000 km and culminate in Ayodhya on October 30. It was halted in Samastipur in north Bihar and Advani was arrested.

Political analysts feel the Rath Yatra gave a fillip to the BJP's electoral and ideological reach. As the demand for the temple gained momentum, the BJP's electoral fortunes also soared high.

While Advani's Rath Yatra was under the banner of religion, it was also a political act. India Today noted, "It whipped up a strong Hindu fervour and increased the party's votebank from 85 in 1989 to 120 in the 1991 general elections."

1990, Congress' Sadbhavana Yatra 

The Sadbhavana Yatra of Congress was started by Rajiv Gandhi on October 19, 1990. Interestingly, on November 1, Rahul Gandhi unfurled the tricolour during the Bharat Jodo Yatra at the iconic Charminar at the same place from where Rajiv Gandhi started the 'Sadbhavna Yatra'. 

1991, Ekta Yatra of BJP: 

This yatra was led by then BJP President Murli Manohar Joshi and sought to highlight the BJP's support to national unity and its opposition to separatist movements. It began in December in Kanniyakumari, Tamil Nadu, and covered 14 states. It was seen as a follow-up to Advani's Rath Yatra to further boost the BJP's electoral fortunes.

The yatra culminated with Joshi getting airlifted to Srinagar and unfurling the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on January 26, 1992. According to political analysts, it was considered to have minimal success as not many locals participated.

The Ekta Yatra was replicated by the party in 2011 when it held a 14-day yatra from Kolkata to Kashmir's Lal Chowk to unfurl the national flag in the Valley.

2003, April: Congress leader Y S Rajasekhar Reddy had undertaken a 1,400-km padyatra in Andhra Pradesh. He led the Congress to a resounding victory a year later, defeating the incumbent Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

2004, BJP's Bharat Uday Yatra: 

Advani's Bharat Uday Yatra highlighted India's achievements under the reign of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It did not pay the expected electoral dividend as the BJP suffered defeat in Lok Sabha polls and the UPA-I came to power.

2017, Yatra by YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy: In the run-up to the April 2019 Andhra Pradesh assembly elections, YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy undertook a massive Praja Sankalpa Yatra starting in 2017, covering over 3,500 km by foot across the state.

2017, Narmada Parikrama Yatra: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh undertook the Narmada Parikrama' from the Barman ghat in Narsinghpur district, situated on the banks of the Narmada.

Though Singh maintained that the 3,000-plus-km Narmada Parikarma was entirely a spiritual exercise, many observers said its political implications were evident and it contributed to the success of the party in 2019 assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.

2021, BJP's Jan Ashirwad Yatra: The BJP launched a five-day Jan Ashirwad Yatra in August last year as part of which 39 Union ministers were sent to cover 22 states. The ministers undertook the Jan Ashirwad Yatras to cover 212 Lok Sabha constituencies and travel over 19,567 km to reach out to people and tell them about the government's achievements.

September 2022-January 30, 2023: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, along with several party leaders, embarked on the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari, marking the beginning of a challenging journey through which the party sought to reach out to people and rejuvenate its organization.

(With PTI inputs)