The ten-day ‘Badlav Yatra’ organised by the Aam Aadmi Party in Haryana ended on Sunday. The aim was to feel the “pulse of the masses” going into the election year and to “energise cadre” ahead of the party’s rally in January next year.
Led by senior party leaders -- Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta, Campaign Committee chairman Ashok Tanwar, Haryana senior vice-president Anurag Dhanda and vice-president Chitra Sarwara – the yatra was organised simultaneously in four different parts of the state and covered all 90-assembly constituencies.
Preparedness
Ms. Sarwara, travelled across assembly constituencies in northern Haryana starting from Kalka on December 15. She told The Hindu over the phone that the yatra gauged the preparedness of the party after the organisational overhaul and energised the cadre, besides feeling the pulse of the masses. “The party overhauled its Haryana unit at different levels starting from February this year. This yatra was an opportunity to assess our preparedness and re-energise the cadre to prepare the ground for the rally scheduled next month. It was also aimed at feeling the pulse of the people going into the election year,” said Ms. Sarwara, who ended her leg of the yatra at Panipat.
She said the party leaders raised different issues plaguing the masses on different days of the yatra ranging from unemployment, increase in crime, lack of health infrastructure, and farmers’ plight. “During our overnight stays, women and young girls came to me complaining about inadequate educational infrastructure and lack of job opportunities,” said Ms. Sarwara.
On the yatra being led by four different leaders, she said the format was designed to avoid prolonging the yatra and exposing participants to the cold.
Unemployment
Addressing a press conference in Kaithal at the end of his leg of the yatra, Mr. Dhanda said unemployment was the biggest issue in the state and in every assembly constituency youth had complaints about lack of jobs. He started the ten-day yatra at Mahendragarh in South Haryana.
Starting from Faridabad, Mr. Gupta ended his leg of yatra in Jind. “People stepped out of their homes to support us. The journey for regime change has begun with this ‘Badlav Yatra’,” said Mr. Gupta.
Mr. Tanwar, a former Sirsa Lok Sabha MP, reached Bhiwani at the end of the yatra. He said the aim was to awaken the masses.
