Rahul Gandhi launches Congress’ ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, to sleep in container for 150 days

@the_news_21

Eyeing the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi flagged off the party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, from Kanyakumari this afternoon, a massive mass contact programme by Congress against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Rahul Gandhi, who embarks on ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari today, will be staying in a container for the next 150 days, as per media reports.

The Yatra will proceed mainly through 12 states, including Himachal Pradesh, where Assembly polls are due later this year.

Led by Rahul Gandhi, Congress workers and leaders will walk in two batches between 7 am and 6.30 pm every day, to cover the 12 states and two union territories over the next 150 days.

Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi, who is abroad for a medical check-up, termed the party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, a “transformational moment of Indian politics” and regretted her inability to launch it.

“This is a landmark occasion for our great party with such a glorious legacy – the Indian National Congress. I am confident that our organisation will be rejuvenated. It is also a transformational moment in Indian politics,” she said in a message.

Senior Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge earlier in the day said that through ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ the party intends to apprise the people of how the provisions of the Constitution are being violated in the country.

“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,” Rahul Gandhi Tweeted ahead of the Yatra after visiting his father Rajiv Gandhi’s memorial.

In what is being seen as a Congress’ “masterstroke” to take on the Narendra Modi government in the upcoming 2024 elections, Congress is launching the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. It will be a 3,570 km journey lasting about 150 days from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.

The Congress says the yatra is the 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.

On Sunday, Congress held a mega rally against price rise, unemployment and Goods and Services Tax hike at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital ahead of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ campaign.

The Yatra will include Padayatras, rallies, and public meetings which will be attended by the senior Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The Congress suffered a debacle in the assembly polls held earlier this year and the Yatra is seen as an attempt to rally the party rank and file for the upcoming electoral battles.