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Rahul Gandhi gets set for Bharat Jodo Yatra from today
The 3,570-km Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir will cover 12 states and 2 Union Territories in about five months
Kanyakumari: The stage is set for Rahul Gandhi to launch Congress' 3,570-km Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari on Wednesday, with the party describing the march as its biggest mass-contact programme to date.
The avowed objective of Bharat Jodo Yatra is to unite the country and rally the common people against the "prevailing politics of fear, bigotry and prejudice" besides flagging the problems of increasing unemployment, rising prices and growing inequalities.
The 3,570-km Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir will cover 12 states and two Union Territories in about five months. Just ahead of the launch of Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi will take part in a prayer meeting at his father and ex-prime minister late Rajiv Gandhi's memorial in Sriperumbudur.
Rahul will then attend an event in Kanyakumari, where Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel will be present.
The former Congress chief will be handed over a khadi national flag there.
Rahul Gandhi along with his fellow marchers and other Congress leaders will then walk to the venue of the public rally from where Bharat Jodo Yatra will be formally taken out.
Meanwhile, in a video message, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has urged the people to join Bharat Jodo Yatra wherever possible. She asserted that the Yatra is needed as negative politics is being practised in the country and real public issues not discussed.
Rahul Gandhi, who along with his fellow Yatris will walk "all the way" to Srinagar, has said that with all means of reaching the public, including media and Parliament, having been allegedly made "dysfunctional" by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government, the Congress has been left with no option but to go to the people directly and apprise them of the truth of the prevailing situation.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said there is a need for the Bharat Jodo Yatra because the country is being divided. "The first reason for the division is economic disparities, the second being social polarisation and the third political centralisation as states' rights are being snatched away. So, it is important to unite the country now. If not now, then when," he said.
Meanwhile, over 200 civil society members have reportedly appealed to the people to support Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra and similar initiatives by any other organisation to defend against the "systematic assault" on the unity and democracy of India.
