Playing against BJP on Congress-prepared pitch due to Yatra: Jairam Ramesh

Jairam Ramesh also said that Rahul Gandhi is trying to sharpen the ideological basis of the Congress and is working along with the party's elected president, Mallikarjun Kharge

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on December 18 said the Bharat Jodo Yatra has ensured that the Congress is now setting the political narrative in the country and the BJP has been made to play on a pitch prepared by his party.

In an interview with PTI on the yatra completing 100 days, Mr. Ramesh also said that Rahul Gandhi is trying to sharpen the ideological basis of the Congress and is working along with the party's elected president, Mallikarjun Kharge, as a 'jugalbandi' (together).

Asked whether the party could undertake another such yatra next year, Mr. Ramesh said, "I would certainly love to participate in a Porbandar (Gujarat) to Parshuram Kund (Arunachal Pradesh) Yatra but whether we can do it next year and how we can do it next year, it has to be discussed and debated in appropriate party forums." The Congress general secretary in-charge communications asserted that through the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Mr. Gandhi has given a new direction to the political discourse and the Congress has set the narrative for the last 100 days.

"The Congress has been applauded, criticised, praised, reviled. What it means is that we were on the defensive, we were always reacting to what the BJP was saying or what it was doing but through the Bharat Jodo Yatra I think we have succeeded to a very large extent in being able to set the terms of debate and the narrative in the political discourse," Mr. Ramesh said.

He said the yatra has had an "electrifying internal effect" on the organisation as well as on the external world of Indian politics.

Mr. Ramesh claimed that due to the yatra, the BJP is on the "back foot, disturbed and nervous".

"I think we have succeeded in changing the terms of the debate. The narrative is on our pitch now. We are playing cricket against the BJP on a pitch that is prepared by us, we are not playing cricket against the BJP on a pitch prepared by them, that is the difference," he said.