Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan, family members of freedom fighters and senior Congress leaders will be joining Rahul Gandhi as the Bharat Jodo Yatra enters Delhi on Saturday before it takes a nine-day long break.
Mr. Haasan, who is the president of the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), will also record a one-on-one conversation with Mr. Gandhi with whom he is said to share a close rapport. The conversation will be made public eventually, like the Congress leader’s chat with the former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan.
Mr. Haasan, one of the biggest movie icons in South India, is the latest celebrity to be taking part in the Yatra.
Praveen Chakravarty, who heads the Congress’ data analytics department and is from Tamil Nadu, is said to be coordinating with the MNM chief for his participation in the yatra. He is said to have organised a meeting between Mr. Haasan and Mr. Gandhi after the 2021 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu where the MNM couldn’t impress voters.
Addressing the MNM office-bearers last week, Mr Haasan had said he has been invited by Rahul Gandhi and that he would participate in the Bharat Jodo Yatra on Saturday in the national capital. He is said to have told his colleagues that his presence in the Yatra would make it clear where he stood in terms of his politics.
On Friday, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) deputy general secretary and Lok Sabha member Kanimozhi joined the yatra in Haryana.
Delhi Congress president Anil Chaudhary said at least 40,000 to 50,000 yatris are expected to participate in the yatra in the national capital.
“People from different fields will be joining the yatra that will enter the Badarpur border at 6 a.m. We will then walk towards Ashram [on ring road] via Apollo hospital and thereafter, the yatris will have a lunch break and rest for a while. We will resume our yatra at 1 p.m. from Ashram,” Mr. Chaudhary said.
After the lunch break, the yatra will resume and head towards Nizamuddin and then to the India Gate Circle-ITO-Delhi Cantt.-Darya Ganj, before heading towards the Red Fort.
Thereafter, Mr. Gandhi and some of the yatris will visit Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at Rajghat, followed by a visit to Veerbhumi, Rajiv Gandhi’s memorial and Jawaharlal Nehru’s memorial at Shantivan by car to offer floral tributes.
After a nine-day break beginning Saturday night, the yatra will resume from January 3 from Uttar Pradesh, then again head to Haryana in the second phase and then to Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
