Kanyakumari To Kashmir – Rahul Gandhi To Launch Big Congress March Today
Chennai: With an eye on the 2024 general election, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi will launch the party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kanyakumari today. The 3,500 kilometre-long-yatra will be covered in nearly 150 days.
Rahul Gandhi started his day with a visit to his father Rajiv Gandhi’s memorial in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur, where the former Prime Minister was killed in a suicide attack on May 21, 1991.
After visiting his father’s memorial, Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “I lost my father to the politics of hate and division. I will not lose my beloved country to it too. Love will conquer hate. Hope will defeat fear. Together, we will overcome.”
Alleging social polarisation and political centralisation under the BJP rule, Mr Gandhi had earlier said that the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is like a ‘tapasya’ to him to unite the country.
Mr Gandhi will attend an event at Kanyakumari’s Mahatma Gandhi Mandapam in the evening where Chief Minister MK Stalin will hand over the national flag to him for the yatra launch.
The 3,500 kilometre-long-yatra, dubbed by the Congress as the “longest march” organised in the country over the last century, will be launched at around 5 pm with a rally, and the ‘padyatra’ or foot march will begin on Thursday morning.
Led by Rahul Gandhi, Congress workers and leaders will walk in two batches between 7 am and 6.30 pm every day, to cover 12 states and two union territories over the next 150 days.
Mr Gandhi will walk all the way – from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, where the yatra will conclude. All state unit presidents would organise the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in their respective states in solidarity with Mr Gandhi, the party said in a statement.
The Congress says the yatra is party’s biggest ever ‘Jan Samparka programme’ during which they will try to connect with the common people on various issues, including inflation, price rise and unemployment.
Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said the yatra is a “transformational moment for Indian politics and it is a decisive moment for the rejuvenation of the party”.
On Tuesday, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi had said that the Congress is starting “positive politics” with the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. In a video, she urged people to unite and join the ‘yatra’ to make the country prosperous.
