The walk for harmony led by B. Ramanath Rai, Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada, from Farangipet to Mani covering about 22 km, passed off peacefully on Tuesday.
Hundreds of Congress workers, Left wing activists, representatives of Raita Sangha and other social organisations took part in it.
Though Mr. Rai got tired after walking 12 km in four hours, he retained his spirit as he reached Melkar Junction at 2 p.m. This was the first break for Mr. Rai, who started the event at Farangipet on Mangaluru-Bengaluru National Highway 75.
“I prefer to walk slow and steady,” Mr. Rai said during his brief chat with The Hindu a few minutes before taking the lunch break at a community hall at Melkar Junction.
This was the second time that Mr. Rai has taken part in a walk organised by the Congress. In 2013, Mr. Rai was among a few Congress leaders to walk 44 km during the party’s padayatra to Ballari in protest against illegal mining in the State.
“It is arduous. But for a cause I am ready to take this strain,” Mr. Rai said and added that a regimen of physical exercise was helping him take up such a walk.
Sporting black walking footwear, Mr. Rai walked briskly for a while from Farangipet. Then, he slowed down and took the help of two Congress activists in his further journey. His slow walking led a group of walkers stay with Mr. Rai, while other participants moved ahead. This also led to the programme getting delayed by nearly two hours.
While Congress MLAs and MLCs preferred to walk only a few metres during the walk, Mr. Rai walked the entire distance. “This is the word that I gave to the people following the communal incidents in the district. I have acted accordingly,” Mr. Rai said.
Expressing happiness over the overwhelming support for the padayatra, Mr. Rai said that this was a display of the strength of the people who are for communal harmony. “We may fight elections on our agendas and principles. But when it comes to maintaining communal harmony, we are one,” said Mr. Rai, who was glad with the support that he received from the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Raita Sangha and other social organisations for the padayatra. He did not wish to comment on the opposition to the padayatra from the Social Democratic Party of India and the United Muslim Organisations.
There were a few others who walked the entire distance. It included All India Congress Committee member P.V. Mohan, Democratic Youth Federation of India State president Muneer Katipalla and 70-year-old Sundaranna from Panemangaluru. The Congress activists had arranged for water, watermelon and curds for the walkers and the security personnel all along the route.
Superintendent of Police Sudheer Kumar Reddy C.H. and Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil S. covered the distance in a vehicle even as they oversaw security arrangements.
