CPI(M) Joins Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra in West Bengal

Kolkata: The Communist Party of India Marxist [CPI(M)] has decided to join the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra in West Bengal, across all areas it passes through.

Giving credence to this decision of the West Bengal CPI(M), the Left party’s state secretariat Member Jibesh Sarkar, along with leaders of the Left Front, walked the Siliguri leg of the Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra (BJNY). Hand in hand with Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, they walked from Venus More to Hill Cart Road in Siliguri.

Rahul Gandhi followed them in the cavalcade with thousands of people, including Left activists and Congress party workers.

The Left leaders joining the Yatra are seen to be giving additional credence to it. It comes when the INDIA bloc is in trouble in Bihar, and in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has threatened to walk away from the alliance.

In fact, Rahul Gandhi’s Yatra was joined by all political parties in the state except the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), and it turned out to be a show of strength by the secular forces.

The hill-based HUMRO Party of Ajay Edwards also joined in the rally. According to political observers, Ajay Edwards is the frontrunner to be nominated as the INDIA bloc’s candidate for the Darjeeling seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The message sent by the Left parties by joining the BJNY seems loud and clear that the INDIA bloc is secure in West Bengal even if the ruling TMC leaves it.

It was a human deluge on the arterial corridor of Hill Cart Road as for over a kilometre, BJNY supporters jostled with one another to walk in the rally.

Earlier in Jalpaiguri, the Yatra saw thousands of people participating in that leg of the political rally.

“I want an India where the weakest person in the country could feel that the country will come to his rescue. When he is fearful, he should feel that there is a brother who can save him,” said Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Nayay Yatra in Siliguri.

The resumption of Gandhi’s BJNY is of more significance as the Yatra was unwelcomed by the ruling TMC workers who even went to destroy flexes of the BJNY in Jalpaiguri and many places on the scheduled route.

The administration in Bengal also banned meetings in areas that the Yatra will pass through. As a result, Rahul Gandhi could not hold any big public rallies in the areas he visited so far in West Bengal.

Furthermore, it becomes more significant as INDIA bloc partner Janata Dal-United, led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, recently dropped out from it and again formed a government with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The Congress leader further stated, “I want an India where the one who works gets respect, but I regret to say that today, the ones who engage in ‘dalali’ get respect. India needs a brother, not a dalal.” 

In Siliguri, in his 20-minute-long speech, Gandhi attacked the Agniveer scheme, stating that under the scheme, “the government says, ‘You join the Army, spend four years, and we will return 75% of them’.” He criticised the scheme, saying that martyrs under the Agniveer scheme do not get the same benefits as other Army cadres.

He also mentioned, “1.5 lakh youth were promised jobs before the Agniveer scheme. The government said they would get jobs after Covid. They have been kept waiting for three years and are now being told that neither can they get admitted to the Army nor under the Agniveer scheme. This kind of hilarious injustice is happening in the country. I want to raise such issues.”

Gandhi praised the intelligentsia of Bengal and urged the people of Bengal to lead the country by the intelligence quotient. “It is your responsibility to show the way forward to the country. It was done by Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose, and Vivekananda. If you do not show the path to the country, the country will not forgive you. You must fight against hatred. With your intellectual power, you can connect India.”

Earlier, Gandhi did a three-kilometre Yatra in Jalpaiguri and met locals. Other Congress leaders, including Adhir Ranjan Choudhury, Jairam Ramesh, Youth Congress National President Srinivas BV, and Swaraj India’s Yogendra Yadav, also participated in the rally.

The Wayanad MP did not speak to the media. However, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on the Bihar crisis, “Since the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is gaining huge success, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did it before the Yatra could enter Bihar to distract people.”

Ramesh claimed that Nitish Kumar breaking from the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar would not impact the INDIA bloc.

It is the second phase of Rahul Gandhi’s Yatra. In 2022, he also walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir- 4500 kilometres during his Bharat Jodo Yatra, with the message to eradicate hatred among Indians.