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| Edited By: DNA Web Team |Source: DNA Web Desk |Updated: Sep 07, 2022, 10:03 PM IST
On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi, accompanied by 118 Congress leaders, will embark on ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ which the party is seeing as its revival bid ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday flagged the ambitious padyatra (foot march) from Kanyakumari, the coastal town in Tamil Nadu, with an assertion that he will not lose his country to hate and accused the BJP-RSS of trying to divide the country on religious lines.
Eyeing the revival of the crisis-ridden party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the party chief Sonia Gandhi described the march as a "landmark occasion" and hoped that the march would help rejuvenate the grand old party.
"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 as he paid floral tributes to his father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at his memorial in Sriperumbudur, hours before the formal launch of the 3,570 km-long yatra.
Rahul Gandhi along with other Congress leaders will embark on the yatra on Thursday at 7 am from Vivekananda polytechnic in Kanyakumari.
The march will move in two batches from 7 am to 10:30 am and from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm. While the morning session will include fewer participants, the evening session will see mass mobilisation. The participants plan to walk around 22 to 23 km daily.
About 30 per cent of 'Bharat Yatris' are women. The average age of Bharat Yatris is 38.
About 50,000 citizens have also registered to participate in the Yatra. To coincide with the launch of the Yatra on Wednesday, 'Prarthana Sabhas' will be held by the Congress' state units at 5 pm, a leader said. At 7 am Thursday, 10 km foot marches will be held at block level.
After reaching Kerala on September 11, the Yatra will traverse through the state for the next 18 days, reaching Karnataka on September 30. It will be in Karnataka for 21 days before moving north.
It will pass through Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Nilambur, Mysuru, Bellary, Raichur, Vikarabad, Nanded, Jalgaon, Indore, Kota, Dausa, Alwar, Bulandshahr, Delhi, Ambala, Pathankot, Jammu, and end in Srinagar.
With the mega march, the Congress is seeking to flag issues of alleged economic crisis and unemployment, ‘misuse’ of central probe agencies by the government, and social polarisation and political centralisation.
The mega foot march comes at a time when the Congress is facing a crisis amid endless poll debacles in the recent years, coupled with infighting and high-profile exits.
The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ will also be the first frontal challenge by the Congress against the BJP after the Rafael campaign, which was launched ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
