Calling the Bharat Jodo Yatra a people’s movement “unequalled” in history, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on September 7 said the Yatra seeks to bring real issues like economic inequalities, price rise, unemployment, social injustice and subversion of the Constitution to the fore.
Mr. Kharge also slammed the trend of “manufacturing headlines” to divert attention from the real issues of the people.
On September 7 last year, the Congress launched the Kanniyakumari-to-Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra that covered over 4,000 km across 12 States and 2 Union Territories, with former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, along 120 other Bharat yatris, completing the entire distance in 146 days.
The yatra, which culminated in Srinagar on January 30 this year, saw Mr. Gandhi addressing 12 public meetings, more than 100 street corner meetings, 13 press conferences, over 275 planned walking interactions and more than 100 sitting interactions.
To mark the first anniversary of its most ambitious project, the Congress organised Bharat Jodo Yatras across 722 districts, with senior leaders taking part in various district level programmes.
“The Bharat Jodo Yatra is not just a physical endeavour, it is a sincere effort to rebuild our broken collective conscience. Our ingrained values of justice, liberty equality, and fraternity, for us, are supreme,”Mr. Kharge said in a statement, posted on X (formerly Twitter), while congratulating Mr. Gandhi.
“The trend of manufacturing irrelevant headlines to divert attention from the real issues of people to hide the agenda of hate and division is a systemic attack on our collective conscience,” he noted, adding “The Congress party is continuously reaching out to people in an endeavour to reclaim our Constitution and protect our Democracy”.
Mr. Gandhi, who is on a week-long tour of Europe, also shared his thoughts on X with a three-minute-long video of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“The crores of steps of Bharat Jodo Yatra towards unity and love have become the foundation of a better tomorrow for the country. The journey continues till hatred is eradicated, till India unites. This is my promise!” Mr. Gandhi tweeted.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Yatra was a transformational moment in Bharat Jodo Yatra as it focused on “rising economic inequalities, increasing social polarisation and deepening political authoritarianism”.
“It (yatra) was not a Mann ki Baat lecturing exercise for Rahul Gandhi but an opportunity to listen to Janta ki Chinta (concerns of the people),” Mr. Ramesh said.
