AMN / WEB DESK
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has termed the “Bharat Jodo Yatra” as a landmark occasion and hoped that the 3,500-km foot march would help rejuvenate the party.
In her message read out at the rally in Kanyakumari on Wednesday, Gandhi said she would be participating in the yatra daily in thought and spirit.
“In view of the medical check-ups that I am undergoing, I regret my inability to be with all of you in person this momentous evening to launch the historic Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.
“This is a landmark occasion for our great party with such a glorious legacy — the Indian National Congress. I am confident that our organisation will be rejuvenated,” Gandhi said in her message.
She also described the occasion as a “transformational moment in Indian politics”.
Gandhi congratulated the 120-odd party colleagues who will complete the entire “padyatra” and said there will be hundreds and thousands of others who will join the march in different states.
“I extend my greetings to them as well,” she said.
“Speaking for myself, I will be participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra daily in thought and spirit. I will, of course, be seeing the yatra live as it progresses. So, let us move forward united and firm in our resolve,” the Congress president said.
The occasion also saw the handing over of the national flag to officially mark the start of the “padayatra”, which the Congress has described as the longest ever undertaken by any political party in independent India.
With the launch of the 3,570 km Yatra at a mega rally from kanyakumari, the Congress is seeking to flag economic disparities, social polarisation and political centralisation, while attempting to make gains in what it often described as battle of ideologies.
Ramesh had said Tuesday that the Yatra is a “transformational moment for Indian politics and it is a decisive moment for the rejuvenation of the party”.
“Even in states where the Yatra is not passing through, people are excited. In each state the Congress will organise similar Yatras on a smaller scale, may be of 50 km or 100 km on the main theme of uniting India, an India being torn apart by economic inequalities, social polarisation and over-centralisation,” he had said.
“The party is focused on making Bharat Jodo Yatra successful because it is the largest mass mobilisation programme it has undertaken in Independent India,” he said.
In a video message, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had urged people to join the Yatra wherever possible. She asserted the Yatra was needed as “negative politics was being practised in the country and real issues were not being discussed”. It aims to put focus on people’s issues such as price rise and unemployment, she has said.