Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ will end in Srinagar on January 30 with hoisting of the national flag after it resumes on January 3 after covering 9 states and a Union Territory in its first leg, party leaders said on Monday.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra has covered 3,122 km so far from Gandhi Mandapam in Tamil Nadu’s Kanniyakumari to the Red Fort in Delhi. Over 108 days, it has covered 49 districts in 9 states and a Union Territory – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi.
Congress General Secretary, in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh said: “Rahul Gandhi and the Bharat Yatris have been meeting, interacting, and conveying the message of Bharat Jodo to tens of thousands of people every single day. This Yatra is truly a Yatra for listening to the people of India. The Yatra listens to people through large numbers of meetings.”
“There have been 87 sitting interactions of 30-40 minutes with various groups, usually of 20-30 people. These groups raise various issues of the localities and states we are walking through. There have been over 200 planned walks with smaller groups of 4-5 people, from celebrities to intellectuals to activists to ex-servicemen to local children.
“To convey the message of the Yatra, there have been 95 corner meetings, where Rahul Gandhi makes a short speech about the message of the Yatra at the end of the day. In addition, 10 large public meetings have been held, to which lakhs of people have attended. There have also been 9 press conferences, one in each state, where media, especially local media, have freely asked questions,” Ramesh added
“The spirit of Bharat Jodo has also been celebrated with visits to several important religious and spiritual centres, interactions and performances by numerous artistes, and two Bharat Jodo concerts,” he said.
The Congress said through these range of mass contact efforts, the Yatra is a significant milestone in the Congress’s rich tradition of representing the voice of all Indians.
Resuming from Delhi on Tuesday, it will enter Uttar Pradesh on the same day, and move till there till January 5, will be in Haryana from January 6 to 10, in Punjab from January 11 to 20, and also spending a day in Himachal Pradesh on January 19.
The Yatra will enter Jammu and Kashmir on the evening of January 20.
“The message of Bharat Jodo is not limited only to the 12 states and 2 Union Territories through which the Yatra passes. Several state-level Yatras have already been announced, and the upcoming Haath se Haath Jodo Abhiyan will take the message of Bharat Jodo to the door step of every Indian,” Ramesh said. IANS