As his second Yatra ends, Rahul Gandhi clearly has come a distance – but what about his party?

Paradoxically, Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra ended the same day as the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha polls for 2024, though the Yatra’s final rally is to take place in Mumbai on Sunday at the historic Shivaji Park.

It will now get converted into the first election meeting by theOpposition INDIA bloc in Maharashtra, which has acquired an importance all its own for both sides.

Through his two Yatras, over the last two years, first from South to North and more recently from East to West, Rahul has gained a national profile. Position or no position, he is today recognised as THE leader of the Congress who is taking decisions for the party, no matter who is in-charge officially.

He has also become a symbol for all those dissatisfied with the Narendra Modi rule. And the first choice of the minorities —wherever the Congress is in a position to get its act together.

Last Friday, at the Muslim-dominated powerloom city of Bhiwandi in Thane district, a crowd of 7,000-10,000 of mainly Muslims waited for him to arrive from Palghar for the last lap of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, even though it was time to break their Ramzan roza. Speaker after speaker from the community urged those present to work to make Rahul the prime minister. As they milled round the Anant Dighe Chowk, they nostalgically recalled the Congress rule and the “mohabbat (harmony)” of earlier years!

The curiosity about Rahul has also increased in the last two years; people want to know more about him. At Bhiwandi, I found a large group of Hindu women who had come with their children. “We wanted to see for ourselves what he is like”, “We had heard about him”. Would they be voting for him? “We will vote for whoever works for us.”

Rahul has also emerged as