New Delhi, India – Hundreds of individuals on Monday defied the tough Himalayan chilly as they gathered in Srinagar, the biggest metropolis in Indian-administered Kashmir, to affix opposition chief Rahul Gandhi on the final day of his practically 150-day cross-country “unity” march.

Launched on September 7, 2022 from the nation’s southernmost tip of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu state, the Bharat Jodo Yatra or Unite India March traversed by 14 states overlaying greater than 70 districts.

It noticed a lot of individuals – from distinguished civil society members and activists to native leaders and celebrities – making an attempt to maintain up tempo with the 52-year-old scion of India’s most well-known political household all through his journey spanning a distance of practically 3,500km (2,175 miles).

Political observers described the march as a last-gasp try by Gandhi to revitalise the fortunes of his beleaguered Congress Party forward of nationwide elections due subsequent 12 months.

But for his supporters, the march was an audacious try to bridge the nation’s political and spiritual divisions, which they blame on the insurance policies of the Hindu nationalist authorities of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“This is a march to unite the people of the country against the bigotry and hatred,” stated 48-year-old Uzma Sakib, who flew greater than 2,000km (1,243 miles) from the southern state of Telangana to affix the march in her native state of Kashmir.

“He [Gandhi] has resurrected as a person and a leader who can feel the pain and empathise with the aam aadmi [common man]. And this is the kind of leader that our nation needs,” Sakib informed Al Jazeera from the Kashmir valley.

“He is our only hope.”

Reviving hopes of a ‘comeback’

The Congress Party has ruled India for a complete of practically 60 years since independence in 1947, however its affect has sharply waned since shedding nationwide elections to the BJP in 2014, adopted by a slew of defeats in state and native elections within the years that adopted.

It at the moment holds a transparent majority in solely three of India’s 31 states and union territories, with analysts pointing to the occasion’s lack of a clear-cut ideological framework and its lack of ability to let go of the Gandhi household’s affect for its poor election showings.

According to the National Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms, a complete of 399 electoral candidates stop Congress to affix different events between 2014 and 2021. During that interval, the occasion misplaced 39 out of 49 state elections.

And whereas many distinguished Congress leaders have confronted public discontent over time, it has been beneath the de facto management of Rahul Gandhi – typically portrayed as an incompetent and reluctant politician by a bit of the Indian media – that the occasion’s electoral positive aspects touched historic lows within the 2014 and 2019 normal elections, profitable simply 44 and 52 seats, out of 543, respectively.

Now, some observers say the march is step one – albeit a really small one – in the appropriate route to drag Congress and its scion out of the political wilderness.

“It is not an easy process. It takes years for leaders to emerge as national leaders,” stated Rasheed Kidwai, a veteran journalist and political analyst, who has been overlaying the Congress Party for many years. “Despite that, what he [Rahul Gandhi] has managed to do through this yatra is unconventional.”

However, Kidwai was fast to warning that the march will not be sufficient.

“At the end of the day, it’s the vote that matters – and that’s where the yatra has insurmountable challenges,” he stated, noting that the BJP managed to extend its vote share from 31 % in 2014 to 38 % 5 years later.

“The job of a political party is to win elections. That is the barometer on which a party is assessed. How this yatra would prove for the electoral gains of the party needs to be seen,” he added.

Neither Congress leaders nor supporters, although, declare the march is particularly aimed toward enhancing the occasion’s election outcomes. Instead, Congress asserts the march seeks to deal with “rampant unemployment and inflation, the politics of hate and division and the over-centralisation of the political system” within the nation.

“It is a fight against the attitude of hatred which prevails in our country and not a debate about who would win or lose,” Salman Khurshid, a senior Congress chief, informed Al Jazeera.

Khurshid acknowledged the occasion should step up efforts to unfold its message however expressed confidence that the march had led to a change in the best way the general public considered each Congress and Gandhi. “My political instinct says that people have started looking up to Rahul as someone who has the ability to draw the attention of people, not just in pockets, but right across the country,” he stated.

Just one other ‘rebranding’ effort

But for the BJP, the march was simply one other failed try at rebranding the picture of Gandhi.

“The purpose of this yatra is not to unify the opposition, as it’s been claimed,” Gopal Krishna Agarwal, the nationwide spokesperson of the BJP, informed Al Jazeera.

“The Congress Party is only trying to relaunch Rahul Gandhi and this effort has been going on for quite some time now,” he stated.

A research this month discovered that solely 13 % of respondents thought of the march as one more “re-branding” train for Gandhi, whereas 29 % firmly believed it was successful in uniting the plenty.

However, 37 % nonetheless believed the march wouldn’t translate into votes for Congress, in keeping with the CVoter survey, carried out by the nation’s media conglomerate India Today group.

Back in Srinagar, 32-year-old Ishita Sedha, a staunch Congress loyalist, was making ready to return to her hometown in Uttarakhand on the end result of the 150-day-long journey.

“For me, it has been a spiritual journey,” Sedha informed Al Jazeera, describing the march as “life-changing”.

“Now I can proudly say that I have done something for my nation. And this whole march has really been a learning ground for me, which I aspire to continue on my individual level,” she stated.