The tee-shirt worn by former Congress Party head Rahul Gandhi has become a symbol of fearlessness. When Gandhi led the Bharat Jodo Yatra into Uttar Pradesh (UP) through a cloud of frost and fog, wearing just a tee-shirt, citizens wanted to know if he did not feel the cold.

Gandhi said that despite bone chilling temperatures that had dipped below normal, he did not feel the cold because he was not afraid of winter. He added that when he is unable to bear the cold, he will surely wear more than just a tee-shirt.

Gandhi had arrived from Delhi’s Yamuna Bazaar into UP’s Ghaziabad on Tuesday, for a three day march across three Lok Sabha and 11 state Assembly constituencies before returning to Haryana on January 6. After travelling through Punjab and a day in Himachal Pradesh, Gandhi will conclude the journey in Jammu and Kashmir.

Gandhi’s message that no one should be fearful of extreme temperatures of either the politics of the day or the weather had warmed many a heart in UP, a province where bulldozers have been used to intimidate citizens most of whom are homeless and without employment.

Congress general secretary in-charge of UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joined the ‘caravan of love’ at the Loni border. Vadra said that money will never be able to buy her brother (Rahul Gandhi). Although Vadra’s hard work in UP has not translated into electoral victory for the Congress Party yet, she remains popular in the state with women and the rural population.

Former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief A. S. Dulat had stepped out of his home to walk the talk with Gandhi. As Gandhi headed towards UP from Delhi, former Union minister Ambika Soni, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi and Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi had walked with him.

Gandhi has been on his feet since September 7, when the Bharat Jodo Yatra was flagged off in Kanyakumari. The five month walkathon is a 3,500 kilometre long march through India and hosted by the Congress Party to highlight social polarisation, economic inequalities and political centralisation in the country.

UP’s Opposition Parties

Main opposition party leaders did not join Gandhi’s walk as he covered about 120 km of western UP but each one of them extended moral support for the Bharat Jodo Yatra. In a letter to Gandhi, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav wished the Congress Party initiative success in having taken to the road to establish a personal contact with citizens.

Yadav wrote that India is more than a geographical extension, in which love, non-violence, compassion, cooperation and harmony are the only positive elements that unite India. He hoped that this yatra will achieve its goal with the aim of preserving the inclusive culture of the country.

Four-time UP Chief Minister and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati tweeted best wishes for the Bharat Jodo Yatra and she thanked the Congress Party for inviting her to take part in the yatra.

Gandhi arrived in UP’s Baghpat which is the heartland of a large Jat community. Jat leader and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary welcomed the yatra of all those who stand for a diverse but united India.

In a tweet Chaudhary saluted the yatris, or travellers, who began their walk from Kanyakumari and are on their way to Kashmir having already covered over 2,800 kilometres across ten states. Chaudhary called Gandhi an ascetic and tweeted, “a salute to the yatris. We hope that the campaign realises its goals and binds the people together.”

It is good news for opposition parties in UP that most of them are united in their support to Gandhi’s efforts to get the country to reject the present day politics of fear and the spread of hatred.

What’s Varun Gandhi Planning?

The support given by Varun Gandhi to political leaders like Rahul who raise issues of joblessness, inflation and corruption is most curious. Varun is Rahul’s first cousin, but is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Parliamentarian from UP’s Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency.

Varun believes that the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s willpower had changed the world map. Varun has been a member of the ruling party for two decades but he does not speak the language used by other ruling party politicians.

He said that the Hindu-Muslim politics of the day is making citizens fight each other like dogs and cats. He is also against the short-term defence recruitment scheme called Agneepath that is sure to cause disaffection amongst the youth.

Sympathetic to the plight of farmers, Varun said that they will continue to be exploited as long as there is no legal guarantee from the government for a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

The 42-year-old Varun was introduced to politics by Maneka Gandhi, his mother and widow of Sanjay Gandhi the younger brother of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul’s father. Varun was in his early 20s when he had first campaigned for the BJP in 2004.

Estranged from the Gandhi family, Maneka had joined the BJP less for ideological reasons and more to spite her in-laws perhaps. The BJP had welcomed Maneka in hope of keeping the Gandhi family divided and to weaken the Congress Party.

The young Varun went along with the politics of his mother. In 2009 his victory in Pilibhit was phenomenal with all his rivals losing their security deposit. In 2013 Varun was the youngest general secretary of the BJP while Rahul was the vice president of the Congress.

In the past Varun was rewarded for the hate speeches that he made. After the Parliamentary elections in 2014, Maneka was chosen as minister of Women and Child Development and Varun’s victory from Sultanpur made him a rising star within the BJP.

During the 2017 state elections, Varun was seen as the BJP face for Chief Minister in UP by his supporters, but Yogi Adityanath beat him to that post.

However, today both Maneka and Varun seem out of line in the ruling party household. Varun speaks a different language that may not be appreciated by those who matter within the ruling party.

Today, Varun seems to share a special rapport with Rahul, Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Chaudhary. If these youthful politicians play it right they have the potential to reap tremendous electoral gains in the 2024 elections, and change the politics of the day.