Rahul Gandhi's padyatra has grabbed the headlines and the imagination of many. As he sweats it out in the dust and heat of Uttar Pradesh's villages, travelling on foot from one village to another across four districts, there are a group of people who silently oversee it all.
From crowd management to forming a human security chain around the Congress general secretary, to coordinating his security with his Special Protection Group, these men do it all. They are the ground workers the faceless, un-credited crew members of Gandhi's much-publicised walkathon.
A gag order has been issued against this group, whose only visible connection to the walkathon is their yellow-colored Congress identity cards hung around their necks. They are not allowed to talk to the press or share information about the yatra with the crowd.
After much coaxing, a member of this group, Sanjay Garoth, spoke with this correspondent. His only condition was that his photograph should not be printed.
"We are anonymous and that is how we want to keep it," Garoth, who used to be the district president of the Youth Congress in Karol Bagh, said. Garoth said that his group consisted of 21 "foot-soldiers", all hailing from Delhi.
For food and clothing, a truck has been trailing this group from Delhi. In this truck carries essential supplies like dal, rice, spices, aata, vegetables and packets of Maggi. It also has kerosene gas stoves and food is prepared inside the truck.
According to Garoth, these 21 men were handpicked for crowd control and additional security for the Gandhi scion. As Gandhi walks the distance between the villages, one half of this group is ahead of him, while the other half is behind him. Each group has a rope, with which they cordon off Gandhi, thus keeping him away from the crowd.
After Rahul Gandhi delivers a speech and is ready to move on, this group forms a human chain around him to escort him away from the public. "It is difficult. After he has addressed the crowd, the people want a personal chat with him. It is difficult to escort him away," Garoth said.
These 21 men have done a commendable job too. Except for one licensed gun-holder managing who got alarmingly near Gandhi, there was no untoward incident during the four day journey on foot.
Much like the press, these men also don't know Gandhi's itinerary. "He walks, we follow. He stops, we stop. He sleeps, we sleep. That is how it is. We are not given schedules or maps," Garoth said.
Once Gandhi has selected a house to stay in a particular village, these 21 men also have to find houses within the village to sleep. "We cannot all stay together, as that will be burdensome for one house. We manage to find houses after splitting ourselves into groups of three," Garoth said.
So, when Gandhi wakes up and gets ready by 6.30 am, this group has to be stationed and ready to go outside the house he is staying at least 15 minutes earlier. Similarly, they go to bed 15 minutes after Gandhi finds his place of rest.
