Bharat Jodo Yatra by Congress in TN: All you need to know

The Yatra anthem was launched at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi at a press conference addressed by party general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh.

Senior leaders and party spokespersons addressed press meets at 28 locations on Monday to stress the need for the Bharat Jodo Yatra launching on September 7 in Kanyakumari.

Asked who will be leading the Yatra and when a new Congress president is elected on October 19, will there be a change in leadership of the Yatra, Ramesh said Rahul Gandhi is not leading the Yatra, but walking along others to highlight the issues of the people.

All you need to know about the yatra

Ramesh said the Yatra will also be live streamed on its official website.

Before the launch of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ on September 7, Rahul Gandhi will take part in a prayer meeting at former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s memorial in Sriperumbudur and attend an event in Kanyakumari where Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel will be present and the former Congress chief will be handed over a Khadi national flag, Ramesh said.

After the event at the Mahatma Gandhi Mandapam where Stalin will be present, Rahul Gandhi, along with other Congress leaders, will walk to the venue of the public rally where the yatra will be launched.

Though the 3,570-km yatra from Kanyakumari to Srinagar will be formally launched at the rally, it will actually begin at 7 am on September 8 when Gandhi and several other Congress leaders will embark on the journey.

The ‘padayatra’ will move in two batches, one from 7-10:30 am and the other from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm. While the morning session will include a lesser number of participants, the evening session will see mass mobilisation. On an average, the padyatris will walk around 22-23 km daily, Ramesh said.

He said simultaneously with the main Yatra, there will be separate small Bharat Jodo Yatras’ in states such as Assam, Tripura, Bihar, Odisha, Sikkim, West Bengal and Nagaland.
The tagline of the yatra is ‘Mile Kadam, Jude Watan’.

(With inputs from PTI)