Straight bat: Unravelling the yatra puzzle

As the last of seasonal pilgrims descend the holy precincts of Sabarinala, Kerala will witness the start of another set of yatras, all starting from the State’s north and headed for the capital city. If the former was for spiritual rejuvenation and a trial of one’s power of abstinence, the latter is meant to capture/retain power through the Assembly elections by mid-May.

CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan’s barn-storming “Nava Kerala Yatra” leaves Kumbala in Kasargod on January 15 and winds up in Thiruvananthapuram on February 14 after covering all 140 constituencies. 

Industry Minister P K Kunhalikutty’s yatra kicks off on January 24 and concludes on February 11. CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran follows suit on January 29 to February 18.

KPCC president head V.M. Sudheeran, still fresh from last year’s yatra, couldn’t wait till the end of Makaravilakku and he is the first off the block, setting forth on January 4 to conclude it on February 9.

These leaders are no novices in the arduous month-long exercise since all of them had done this several times as youth leaders. But, now in the strictest sense, it’s a ride at the head of a motorcade. 

The late Prime Minister Chandrasekhar’s padaytra was in 1983 for discovering the land and its people. BJP veteran L K Advani’s yatra was in a chariot, aimed at rallying the majority community.

All along, yatras have been associated with seizing power. Even the Mahatma’s 24-day march from from Sabarmati Ashram near Ahmedabad to the coastal village of Dandi in 1930 to make salt in a symbolic act of civil disobedience was aimed at throwing out the colonial yoke.

It was the Mahatma who showed to the rest of the world how a simple trek starting with 78 fellowmen, would be scripted as the best example of a communication tool in an age sans Facebook and twitter.

Which raises the question whether our netas, in their 60’s and 70’s, should undertake such long-haul rides and whether any of them would be able to pull off a stunner like Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan’s Mathikettan (to inspect encroachments in Idukki) visit or the one to meet the bereaved Ms K K Rema on the day of the Neyyattinkara by-election.        

Arguably, the motorcades, accompanied by funds collection drives and meetings with social leaders, would reactivate the cadres across the State.

The non-party, unattached voters have been the least interested in such exercises. Apart from anecdotal conclusions, no professional survey had been done to assess the impact of yatras.

Such yatras could have caught the imagination of the governed if only the leaders honestly reviewed the performance of their parties, admitted their lapses and unveiled a practical roadmap for the next five years.

Would Mr Sudheeran admit that the quickturns of prohibition policy were the outcome of a game of oneupmanship between him and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy? Would Mr Pinarayi Vijayan share the same concern as Mr Achuthanandan over the brutal assassination of the party rebel, T P Chandrasekharan? Would Mr Kanam Rajendran revisit the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha payment seat fiasco? Would Mr Kunhalikutty admit to hobnobbing with RSS for short-term gains?       

Isn’t the physical yatra also the obverse of looking inward? If our leaders are loath to discussing unpleasant truths, the governed would have no interest in their well-choreographed rides in cool chariots.

The leaders could rather pick and choose regional meetings, backing them up with daily interactions on the social media. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal shook the nation with a tweet on the CBI raid without stirring out of his residence. Which is to say that the content of communication electrifies than all the sweat and labour in this age of communication.

 

 

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