A walk is coming to an end and by the time this magazine reaches you it might reach its destiny. But this walk has captured the imagination and spirit of this country called India as never before. Rahul Gandhi has been walking the length and breadth of India. He began his walk on 7th September, 2022 in Kanyakumari and at the moment has reached Jammu and Kashmir. Looking at this walk beyond politics, one gets a gut feeling that it was and is the need of the hour. It is literally attempting to stitch (jodo) together a country that is being torn apart by a kind of hate and sectarian politics that is rising to very dangerous levels. Most feel that the situation in this country is quite volatile, and if you have doubts, look at the number of people joining the Yatra. This Yatra has at least helped to rekindle that spirit of unity, camaraderie and secularism that is being uprooted in recent years.
There has been a concerted effort from an organized media machinery to discredit and malign this person and attach a papputag to him and they have succeeded so far. And for people who educate and inform themselves through WhatsAppuniversity or such mediocre agencies, Rahul is and remains a pappu! But for others, Rahul has been a man of great caliber, intelligence and a voracious reader, as people like ShashiTharoor, an intellectual himself, would vouch for. Today the public opinion about him has changed to a great extent. But it is not because Rahul has changed but there is a marked perceptual transformation in the understanding of people about him.
Rahul was born with that proverbial silver spoon in his mouth but that has not affected him a bit, looking at his attitude and manner- isms today. He is very down to earth and bears the signs of a common man. Power play does walk is coming to an end and by the time this magazine reaches you it might reach its destiny. But this walk has captured not sit easily on him. He carries the legacy of a mother who forsook, the post of the top job in this country, though it was very much within her reach. He has, with much ease and comfort, set aside many such posts in his political career. At the moment he is rising like Phoenix, even drawing admiration from his detractors.
Rahul is the man that India needs today, a balm for the wounded soul of India. His walk may look stupid to many. This may not bring great fortunes to himself, as he may not become the Top man, or his party. But he is walking into the minds and hearts of thousands of people. He is touching the souls of many, farmers and laborers, young and old, learned and learning, rich and poor, scholars and intellectuals, artists and activists and many more. He is reaching out to everyone, shaking hands, hugging them. There are people waiting hours even, just to wave a hand, just to get a look from him or a smile, even if they can’t walk with him. There are people on wheelchairs and crutches trying to reach out to this man. You see images of people bursting into tears even after a simple handshake.
India is a land of rich spiritual heritage and the world looks at it that way. There is a constant flow of foreigners to India, seeking spiritual enlightenment. India has given the world some of the greatest spiritual masters like Gautama Buddha, AdiShankaracharya, Swami Vivekananda and the list is long (we are also accustomed to a new breed of fraud gurus, who are clever entrepreneurs, to say the least).
What Rahul does is inviting people back to their spiritual roots that consist of compassion, care and tolerance. He is at home with all kinds of people. He is able to eat with all and share their culture. It is soul work consisting of a soul walk.
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