Sporting a lush, bushy beard – reminiscent of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra – Mr Singh drew parallels between the two yatras, noting that the initial criticism had eventually given way to widespread resonance. “People also said all kinds of things about my padayatra, like the Bharat Jodo Yatra,” he said about his journey.
Currently in its fourth phase, the padayatra started on October 5 last year and has covered 48 of the 90 Assembly constituencies. The plan is to have all seats filled by the end of April. While stroking his beard, Mr. Singh said The Hindu: “We walked more than 1,600 km, which is more than half of the total route.” While the regular yatris range between 80 and 120, locals are also participating, increasing the numbers, he added.
Mr Singh, who left the BJP to join the Congress days before the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, said the padayatra conveyed a message against the “attack on traditional brotherhood and camaraderie in rural areas”. The BJP, he alleged, resorted to divisive politics to establish itself in the state after first forming a government in Haryana in 2014. Despite a strong wave against the party in the 2024 parliamentary elections, its ‘divisive’ politics paid them electoral dividends, he said, adding that “in retrospect, you can say that you could also feel it as the elections approached.”
‘Man with vision’
Samiullah, 40, who walked with Mr Singh about 20 km from Bisru to Punhana, said the people and party workers expected him to be given a “big responsibility” in the state unit and were attracted to him. “He is well educated and a sorted person. He thinks positively,” Samiullah said of what attracted him to Mr Singh.
Ravinder Kumar, 60, said the Congress leader was as honest as his father. “He is friendly, polite and very approachable,” he says. “The message of brotherhood conveyed by his padayatra is very relevant in Haryana today,” said Chaudhary Mohammad Ali, a resident of Nuh.
To many of those belonging to Faridabad, he is still the ‘DC Sahab’, having served as the district deputy commissioner during his 21-year bureaucratic career in the late 2000s. “As a descendant of [legendary farmer leader-politician] Sir Chhotu Ram and 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.
‘Employees are nervous’
On his learnings from the padayatra, Mr Singh said it had made him understand that “the roots of the Congress are very deep in Haryana, but the workers are very nervous at the moment.” After three consecutive election losses, party members were fed up and wanted a solution, he said. “The Congress is a very powerful force in Haryana, only if it gets its house in order,” said Mr Singh, who is also vice-chairman of the Congress’ Foreign Affairs Cell.
On a personal level, he said the padayatra was the “most powerful way” for him to abandon the idea 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 Haryana Assembly election in 2024 by just 32 votes to his family bastion Uchana in a polygonal contest that saw party rebels throw the field into disarray.
A prominent Jat leader, Mr Birender, who is considered close to late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, had quit the Congress in 2014 over 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 distanced themselves from the padayatra, saying it was not a party manifesto. However, the party workers, office bearers and even legislators in districts like Yamuna Nagar, Rewari, Faridabad and Nuh have supported the foot march.
Mr Singh said “some insecurities were seeping through” his padayatra – referring to “very unsavory comments” coming from within the party – but he refrained from naming anyone. After a smooth transition from bureaucracy to politics, the padayatra helps make up for the Assembly’s election loss. “I learned my lessons in a way,” he said.
Published – Feb 13, 2026 1:45 AM IST
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