Amid Rahul Gandhi’s Europe tour, Congress set for Bharat Jodo Yatra anniversary celebrations

Rahul had launched the Bharat Jodo Yatra on September 7 last year from Kanyakumari, which had concluded on January 30 in Srinagar after having traversed about 4,000 km across 12 states and two Union Territories.

Despite Rahul’s absence from the Congress’s events in the country on the Yatra’s first anniversary, the party is gearing up to mark the occasion in a big way. It has asked senior party leaders – including the Congress Working Committee (CWC) members, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charges of states, state party chiefs, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leaders, MPs and MLAs – to participate in the Bharat Jodo padayatras to recreate the central message of the Yatra.

The Congress believes the Yatra has had a “transformational” impact on the organisation and was a factor in the party’s victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections. Since the conclusion of the march, Rahul made some “surprise” visits in different parts of the country and held well-planned meetings with a cross-section of people, sending out a message that he has continued to be on the move.

From his recent interaction with the workers of a chocolate factory in Ooty to his early-morning visit to Delhi’s Azadpur market a month ago, Rahul has since January made several outings – all captured on camera by an accompanying team of professional videographers and photographers and disseminated on his social media platforms.

So, the party has asked all its senior functionaries and leaders to join its foot marches in 722 locations on September 7.

“To celebrate the anniversary of the monumental feat accomplished by Rahul Gandhi and thousands of Congress workers, we will be holding a Bharat Jodo Yatra in every district on September 7. Each yatra will culminate in a Bharat Jodo rally in the district,” AICC general secretary in charge of organisation K C Venugopal said.

While the Congress has talked about Rahul leading a second Bharat Jodo Yatra, there is still no clarity on its schedule. Sources in the party said he could embark on this Yatra closer to the Lok Sabha elections, perhaps after the forthcoming round of the state elections in November-December. The Yatra will be from West to East this time.

On Rahul’s foreign itinerary, sources said he will leave India for Europe on September 6 to participate in a series of talks, interactions and meetings in France, Belgium, Holland and Norway.

His first stop will be Brussels, the Belgian capital. According to his tentative schedule, he would hold separate meetings with members of the European Parliament and the Belgian Parliament, followed by media interaction and dinner with the Indian diaspora. He will also have a meeting with Udo Bullmann, Chair of the European Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights.

Rahul’s next stop would be Paris where he will have separate interactions with lawmakers as well as the Sciences Po University students.

From there, he will travel to the Netherlands where he will have an interaction with the students of three universities at Leiden University at The Hague.

Rahul will then travel to Norway where he is scheduled to have a meeting with the Foreign Minister besides Leader of the Opposition and ex-prime minister Erna Solberg. He would also have meetings with the MPs and business leaders there.

The top Congress leader will have interactions with the Indian diaspora in all these countries during his visit.