On Rahul’s birthday, Amit Jogi to lead march into Dantewada

RAIPUR - A 40-strong youth contingent led by Amit Jogi, son of Congress leader Ajit Jogi, has planned a seven-day foot march, starting on Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s birthday June 19, into the restive Bastar region in Chhattisgarh to “win the trust” of the tribals.

The proposed march is being described here in political circle as a courageous move by the 32-year-old junior Jogi who has mostly hit headlines in the state for the wrong reasons.

The march will begin from Dantewada town, headquarters of India’s worst insurgency-hit district Dantewada and will cover roughly 80 km to reach Sukma town June 26 passing the route where Maoists blew up a civilian bus May 17 killing 31 people.

“It’s a satyagraha (peaceful protest) with no political objective. We will begin the trip with a prayer at Maa Danteshwari temple at Dantewada town where we all 40 participants will seek blessings from goddess Danteshwari for our beloved leader Rahul-ji,” Amit Jogi told IANS Monday.

“The basic purpose of the march is to win the trust of people who have been caught in the crossfire for decades,” he said.

“I will listen to what they want to say. We are going there without a solution but hopefully will return with a solution to the unabated bloodbath in Bastar. This solution will entirely come from the traumatized tribals based on their experience of living amid terror,” he added.

The names of those participating in the march are yet to shortlisted from among the 1,700 unmarried volunteers whom Amit Jogi claims are “non-politicians”.

The youths contingent will spend the first night at a shelter run by a non-government organization (NGO) Vanwasi Chetna Ashram (VCA). The VCA is led by Himanshu Kumar who is called by some people in the state as “a Gandhian working for violence-hit Bastar tribe” while authorities describe him as a “true Maoist sympathiser”.

The youths led by Amit Jogi will spend the other nights during their journey in huts of the tribals a la Rahul Gandhi.

“On June 26 when we reach Sukma, we will have a detailed discussion about progress of the march and will decide whether we should carry on the march farther or not,” Amit Jogi said.

Political analysts here say that Amit Jogi, who was a controversial figure in the state when his father was the chief minister from November 2000 to December 2003, is taking a huge risk with a decision to trek through Maoist-infested areas in a desperate bid to change his image.

Jogi was named as prime accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the murder of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state unit treasurer Ramavtar Jaggi in 2003 in Raipur.

In May 2007, the district and sessions court convicted 28 co-accused, most of them long-time associates of Amit Jogi, but he was acquitted.

The acquittal of junior Jogi has been challenged in Chhattisgarh High Court at Bilaspur where Amit Jogi is presently working as a lawyer.