New Delhi: The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will commence the party’s “Bharat Jodo Yatra” from Kanyakumari with an eye toward the general election of 2024. In roughly 150 days, the 3,500 kilometer long yatra will be completed.
Rahul Gandhi began his day by paying a visit to the memorial to his father Rajiv Gandhi in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, where the former Prime Minister was assassinated on May 21, 1991.
LIVE: Shri @RahulGandhi at prayer gathering in memory of Former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi in Sriperumbudur. https://t.co/58rh9b5RvA
— Congress (@INCIndia) September 7, 2022
Rahul Gandhi tweeted after visiting his father’s monument, “The politics of hatred and division cost me my father. I won’t let it take away my beloved nation, either. Love will triumph over hate. Fear will lose to hope. Together, we can succeed.”
He has previously claimed that the “Bharat Jodo Yatra” is similar to a “tapasya” to him in order to unite the nation, alleging social polarisation and political centralization under the BJP’s reign.
To fight divisive agenda with Unity
To protect the integrity of our nation
To restore peace & harmony
and celebrate brotherhood. #BharatJodoYatra binds all Indians together.#VanakkamRahul pic.twitter.com/qfULoFRvj7— Congress (@INCIndia) September 7, 2022
The march was organised by the Congress as a significant mass interaction exercise prior to the general elections of 2024. Congress leaders, though, emphasised that the yatra “is meant to unite the country” and denied any political overtones.
Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan, who is in Kanyakumari for the “Bharat Jodo Yatra” inauguration, claimed that Rahul Gandhi is the choice of Congress leaders and party members. This will help the party, he claimed.
In the evening, Rahul Gandhi will attend a ceremony in Kanyakumari’s Mahatma Gandhi Mandapam where Chief Minister MK Stalin will present him with the national flag for the start of the yatra.
A rally will kick off the 3,500-kilometer-long yatra, which the Congress has labelled the “largest march” organised in the nation in the past century, at around 5 p.m., and the “padyatra,” or foot march, will start on Thursday morning.
Over the course of the next 150 days, Congress members and leaders will walk in two groups between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily to pass through 12 states and two union territories.
From Kanyakumari to Kashmir, where the yatra would come to an end, Gandhi will walk the entire distance. The party announced in a statement that all state unit presidents will organise the “Bharat Jodo Yatra” in their respective states in support of Gandhi.
The Congress claims that the yatra is the party’s largest-ever “Jan Samparka programme,” during which they would attempt to engage the general public on a number of topics, including unemployment, inflation, and price increases. The yatra, according to party MP Jairam Ramesh, is “a vital time for the renewal of the party” and a “transformational moment for Indian politics.”
