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    ‘Non-political’ Narmada parikrama helps Digvijaya Singh 'reconnect'

    Synopsis

    Zilla parishad members, owing affiliation to BJP, openly join Singh’s entourage as it culminates in a small home in Narayanganj.

    Digvijay Singh
    Singh has taken a sabbatical from active politics and embarked on a 3,300-km spiritual parikrama of the Narmada river with his journalist wife Amrita Rai.
    TIKARIYYA (MANDLA, MP): There is a gathering outside a small house in Tikariyya village, about 56 km from Jabalpur. They have to walk another 2 km before they wrap up the day with Narmada aarti at dusk in Narayanganj village. As Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh emerges from inside, people surround him –– some with representations, some complaining about the rotting tomato crop, others seeking the blessings of the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister.

    Thousands of kilometres away from Delhi where his party is witnessing a generational shift, Singh has taken a sabbatical from active politics and embarked on a physically daunting 3,300-km spiritual parikrama of the Narmada river with his journalist wife Amrita Rai. A month and 900 km away from completing his journey, Singh insists it is not a political yatra. But when you see the outreach, it seems the best way to reconnect with the masses in a state where Congress has been in the political wilderness for 15 years. As he walks along the Narmada, word travels fast that he would be staying in a house in the middle of the village. People, cutting across castes, class and political leanings, gather to pour out their woes. From farmers talking about the low minimum support price (MSP) for their crops to illegal sand mining of the Narmada or tribal villages being affected by the proposed Chutka nuclear power plant or water problems of parched districts –– Singh lends an ear to all their issues.

    As he walks to Narayanganj, sarpanch of Kusumpur village, Rodey Lal, comes with his grandson Arun to seek Singh’s blessings. “I was the only sarpanch of my area who was with BJP. But this kid insisted I come to you. And now I know what he meant. You have to guide us,” he says as he walks along. “Narmade har” he greets villagers. Former chief minister Shyama Charan Shukla’s grandson Bhawani Shankar Shukla joins Singh with his friends. Singh politely introduces him and recounts a tale about his grandfather.

    “I realise I have been out of touch with my people. I have met my old friends and I am reconnecting with generations,” he says. When Singh ends his yatra, around April 4 or 5, he would have visited 110 of the 230 Assembly constituencies of MP. Former MP and Singh’s confidante Rameshwar Neekhra puts the impact to have its ripples beyond 110 constituencies. “Why else do you think every senior leader has come and joined this yatra?” he says alluding to Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia.

    Pyare Lal has been a BJP voter but introduces himself to Singh as “a fan”and Singh laughs. Zilla parishad members, owing affiliation to BJP, openly join Singh’s entourage as it culminates in a small home in Narayanganj. Everybody joins in the aarti.

    Singh’s daily itinerary is charted out for him in advance. The day begins at 9 am after breakfast and a lunch break follows around 1-1.30 pm. The daily tour ends at night –– any time between 7 pm and 10.30 pm. Singh stays with a family in the village and eats what he is offered. As he leaves, he seeks the family’s wishes, poses for photographs and hands out a “thank you” letter for their hospitality. He started with 74 people, says Neekhra, and now the group is about 300 pilgrims, including 28 women.

    “On an average, we walk 18 km in a day,” says Rai, who admits that there were physically draining days when she was running high fever but they did not break the yatra. There are enchanting tales of a little-known village Mathesar on the slope of a mountain on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border. Rai talks about her dream of putting down this spiritual journey on paper.

    Singh is visibly slimmer and tanned after walking in the sun for five months. He admits he weighed 78 kg in his last year’s annual health checkup and was told he needed to shed 2-3 kilos. “I haven’t weighed myself after that. I am sure I have lost them,” he says. Singh, known for his controversial and amply vitriolic remarks on national issues, has been off Twitter. “I read the news but I haven’t tweeted in a while. I leave that to Amrita. She posts about our journey –– network permitting –– on Facebook,” he says.




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