On the first anniversary of the launch of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress on Thursday said it was not a “Mann ki Baat” lecturing exercise for Rahul Gandhi but an opportunity to listen to “Janta ki Chinta” and it continues in different forms.
Describing the yatra as a transformative event in Indian politics, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said it focused on “rising economic inequalities, increasing social polarisation and deepening political authoritarianism”.
In a post on X, he said today marks the first anniversary of the launch of the historic Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra, led by Rahul Gandhi. “It (yatra) was not a Mann ki Baat lecturing exercise for Rahul Gandhi but an opportunity to listen to Janta ki Chinta (concerns of the people),” Ramesh said.
On this day in 2022, the Congress launched the yatra in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, the southern tip of the country.
Ramesh said that “after paying tributes to his father at Sriperumbudur, he (Rahul Gandhi) visited the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Thiruvalluvar statue, the Kamaraj Memorial and Gandhi Mandapam in Kanyakumari”.
“He then walked from the Gandhi Mandapam to address a large public rally in Kanyakumari by the Indian ocean, and the yatra commenced in the early hours of the next morning,” the Congress general secretary recalled. During the course of the yatra, that culminated in Srinagar on January 30 this year, Gandhi addressed 12 public meetings, more than 100 street corner meetings and 13 press conferences. He had over 275 planned walking interactions and more than 100 sitting interactions.
