ROAD TO 2024: INDIA looks for direction as Rahul Yatra trundles on, BJP races down temple road

Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is facing rough weather in BJP-ruled Assam, but there is a surprising, rather intriguing, silence in the INDIA bloc. Barring the Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, who condemned the “attack” on the convoy and came out in support of Rahul after he was allegedly prevented from visiting a revered shrine, the others showed a marked indifference.

Adding to that is the open rancour among the INDIA allies in West Bengal – the next state in the Yatra itinerary. All seems to be not well in the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar either. The Congress nevertheless is relieved to hear assurance from both Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav that they will join Rahul’s Yatra in Purnea, its first stop in Bihar, later this month.

All this at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP have framed a new, and complex, challenge to the Opposition with the grand celebrations around the opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. On Tuesday, the party also sealed Mandal firmly with Kamandal by announcing the Bharat Ratna for socialist icon Karpoori Thakur.

On Monday, Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee accused the CPI(M) of controlling the meetings of the INDIA alliance. And then, having led an all-faith rally on the day of the Ram Temple consecration, she interestingly added: “How many politicians today have taken on the BJP frontally… hit the streets? Somebody went to a temple and thinks that is sufficient. It is not so. I am the only one who took out a rally and visited a temple, a gurdwara, a church and a mosque.”

It was as much a message to the CPI(M) as to the Congress, which has been flirting with soft Hindutva. A big part of