The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will set out on the ‘Matdata Adhikar (voters’ rights) Yatra’ in Bihar in three phases covering 30 districts from August 17.
The yatra, originally scheduled to begin on August 10, has been “postponed by a week” following the death of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Shibu Soren, Congress spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari. “Now, the Matdata Adhikar Yatra will commence from August 17 in the State,” Mr. Tiwari said.
The Congress leader is likely to commence his journey from Sasaram, district headquarters of Rohtas.
Senior Congress leaders and Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) leaders are likely to join Mr. Gandhi at various places over the course of the yatra in the poll-bound State.
Further details on the journey are not yet available.
During the yatra, Mr. Gandhi and Mahagathbandhan leaders are expected to highlight issues with the recently concluded Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral roll by the Election Commission of India, the deteriorating law and order situation, and issues of unemployment and migration of workers, State Congress leaders said.
“It will be a visit of Rahul Gandhi to Bihar for 13-14 days and is expected to culminate in three phases covering several districts,” senior State Congress leader and party MLC Prem Chandra Mishra told The Hindu.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav; Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge; and party leader and MP from Wayanad, Kerala, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, are also expected to join Mr. Gandhi on the yatra. Ms. Vadra had on August 4 termed the SIR “a very big” issue on which the “government should agree to have a discussion”.
“This yatra of our leader will be like Bharat Jodo Yatra to inspire Mahagathbandhan workers and party leaders to gear up for the upcoming Assembly election,” a senior State Congress leader said on condition of anonymity.
The Assembly election is due in Bihar in October-November.
A day prior, on August 3, a senior Congress leader and six-time MLA from Rosera in Samastipur district, Ashok Kumar Ram had quit the party to join the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U), which Congress leader Prem Chandra Mishra alleged was an “utterly opportunistic” move.
Earlier, on July 9, both Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav had jointly led the call for a Bihar bandh in Patna.
Why Sasaram?
“Sasaram comes under the Shahabad area of the State, which comprises Rohtas, Karakat, Buxar, and Bhojpur districts, where a sizeable number of Dalit, Other Backward Class (OBC), and Muslim voters have been deciding the electoral fates of candidates. Keeping this in mind, the Mahagathbandhan leaders might have decided to begin Rahul Gandhi’s yatra from there,” political analyst Nawal Kishore Choudhary said.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Mahagathbandhan candidates won all four Lok Sabha seats in the Shahabad region — Sasaram (Congress), Karakat (Commuist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist or CPI-ML), Buxar (RJD), and Bhojpur (CPI-ML).
Former Speaker and Union Minister Meera Kumar of the Congress, and Kanti Singh of the RJD hail from this region.
