Ex-MP on foot march in Haryana ruffles a few feathers within the Congress

In a veiled dig at his detractors at a felicitation ceremony for Congress workers who had participated in his ongoing Statewide ‘Sadbhavna Yatra’, former Hisar MP Brijendra Singh said he was grateful to those who had opposed him. “When the wind blows from the front, it lifts you up. It’s because of the opposition that our padayatra has gained so much more traction,” quipped the 53-year-old bureaucrat-turned politician amid applause.

Sporting a luxuriant, bushy beard – reminiscent of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra – Mr. Singh drew parallels between the two yatras, noting that initial criticism had ultimately given way to widespread resonance. “People said all sorts of things about my padayatra too, like the Bharat Jodo Yatra,” he said of his journey.

Currently in its fourth phase, the padayatra began on October 5 last year and has passed through 48 of the 90 Assembly constituencies. The plan is to cover all seats by April-end. Stroking his beard, Mr. Singh told The Hindu: “We have walked over 1,600 km. It is more than half of the total route.” Though the regular yatris vary between 80 and 120, the locals too join in causing the numbers to swell, he added.

Mr. Singh, who quit the BJP to join Congress days before the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, said the padayatra carried a message against the “assault on traditional brotherhood and camaraderie in rural areas”. The BJP, he alleged, resorted to divisive politics to establish itself in the State after it formed a government in Haryana for the first time in 2014. Despite a strong wave against the party in the 2024 Assembly election, the “divisive” politics paid them electoral dividends, he said, adding that “in hindsight, one can say that one could feel it as the election approached too.”

‘Man with a vision’

Samiullah, 40, who walked for around 20 km with Mr. Singh from Bisru to Punhana, said people and the party workers expected him to get a “big responsibility” in the State unit and were gravitating towards him. “He is educated and a sorted person. He thinks positively,” said Samiullah on what drew him to Mr. Singh.

Ravinder Kumar, 60, said the Congress leader was honest like his father. “He is friendly, polite and very accessible,” he said. “The message of brotherhood that his padayatra carries is very relevant in Haryana today,” chimed in Chaudhary Mohammad Ali, a resident of Nuh.

For many of those belonging to Faridabad, he is still the “DC Sahab”, having served as the Deputy Commissioner of the district in the late 2000s during his 21-year bureaucratic career. “Being the descendant of [legendary farmer leader-politician] Sir Chhotu Ram and a former bureaucrat, he has the vision. He talks about the farmers and the poor and takes everyone along,” said Congress worker Krishan Kumar, a resident of Palwal’s Hathin.

‘Workers are jittery’

On his learnings from the padayatra, Mr. Singh said it had made him understand that “the roots of the Congress are really deep in Haryana, but the workers right now are very jittery.” After three straight electoral losses, party workers were fed up and want some remedy, he said. “Congress is a very potent force in Haryana, only if gets its house in order,” said Mr. Singh, also the vice chairperson of Congress’s foreign affairs cell.

On the personal front, he said the padayatra was the “most potent way” for him to put to rest the notion that his family was confined to “a constituency”. Mr. Singh, son of former Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender, became Hisar MP on the BJP symbol just a month after quitting the IAS but lost his first election to the Haryana Assembly in 2024 by a mere 32 votes from his family bastion Uchana in a multi-cornered contest with party rebels queering the pitch.

A prominent Jat leader, Mr. Birender, considered close to late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, had quit the Congress in 2014 owing to his differences with his cousin and two-time CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and joined the BJP.

Mr. Hooda and several party leaders considered close to him have maintained a distance from the padayatra saying it was not a party programme. The party workers, office-bearers and even legislators in districts such as Yamuna Nagar, Rewari, Faridabad and Nuh, however, have supported the foot march.

Mr. Singh said “somewhere some insecurities were trickled” by his padayatra – referring to “very unsavoury comments” coming from within the party – but refrained from naming anyone. After a smooth transition from bureaucracy to politics, the padayatra is helping recoup the Assembly election loss. “I have learnt my lessons in a way,” he said.

Published – February 13, 2026 01:45 am IST