Big on message, Bharat Jodo Yatra is a PR exercise for Rahul Gandhi

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Editor's note: On 15 November, Ravindra Deshmukh and a group of Congress workers hired a taxi and travelled five hours to meet Rahul Gandhi. The former party president didn’t know they were coming. He didn’t know them at all. But Deshmukh was confident he’d grant them an audience. “That’s what the Bharat Jodo Yatra is all about, isn’t it? Meeting people like us.” I met Deshmukh outside a large farm in Washim, Maharashtra. It was the 69th day of Gandhi’s nationwide march and the Congress leader had made a stop to address a rally held to mark the death anniversary of the Birsa Munda. Thousands had gathered from Washim and its neighbouring districts. Deshmukh was among those standing by the divider on the highway next to the farm, holding a large painting of Chhatrapati Shivaji. From a distance, Deshmukh watched as Gandhi delivered a tribute to the tribal icon, interspersing his speech with attacks on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for subverting tribal rights. Invoking Hindutva ideologue V.D. Savarkar, he underlined the contrast with Munda: “One died at the hands of the …