Congress is all set to kickstart an over two-month Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, led by Rahul Gandhi, from Manipur today (January 14), panning over dozen states ahead of the Lok Sabha elections later this year. Besides Manipur, the yatra will cover four northeastern states — Nagaland (257 km in two days), Arunachal Pradesh (55 km in one day), Meghalaya (five km in one day) and Assam (833 km in eight days). It will also cover the states in the Hindi heartland including Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and conclude in Maharashtra on March 20 or 21.
Details of the Yatra
In Manipur, the yatra will be flagged off from a private ground in Thoubal district, instead of Imphal. The yatra will be in Manipur for a day and cover a little over 100 km. The yatra will further pass through 100 Lok Sabha constituencies in 15 states. The yatra will move to West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Before starting the yatra, Rahul Gandhi will pay homage to martyrs at the Khongjom War Memorial in Thoubal, built in memory of those killed in the last Anglo-Manipur War in 1891.
According to the route released by the party, the yatra will stay the longest in Uttar Pradesh, covering 1,074 km in 11 days.
It would pass through politically vital areas, including Amethi, the Gandhi family bastion of Rae Bareli and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency of Varanasi. The yatra will traverse 6,713 km, mostly in buses but also on foot. It will cover 110 districts in 67 days, before culminating in Mumbai on March 20 or 21. Rahul Gandhi will address public gatherings and interact with civil society members and organisations twice a day during the yatra.
What did Congress say on the Yatra?
Congress believes it will prove to be as “transformative” as the party claimed during Rahul Gandhi’s earlier Bharat Jodo Yatra. The party has said it is taking out the yatra as the government did not give it a chance to raise people’s issues in Parliament and the initiative is aimed at re-establishing the principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity enshrined in the Constitution.
Being conducted months before the general elections, CongressтАЩ Jairam Ramesh said that it is an тАЬideological yatra and not an electoral oneтАЭ. The Yatra comes on the backdrop of massive defeats in three major Hindi states including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the Assembly polls last year. The party is looking to revive its fortunes ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha elections.
On the eve of the commencement of the Yatra, Rahul Gandhi shared a video montage of women from Manipur sharing their wishes for the march.
“This message of love from the women of Manipur is the blessing we need before we begin our battle for justice tomorrow,” he said on his WhatsApp channel.
With the BJP feeling confident of its victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and now focusing on the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22, the Congress is attempting to find feet in the electorally crucial states in the Hindi heartland and northeast.
(With PTI inputs)
