Chennai, Sep 6 (FN Agency) Senior Congress leader and Wayanad Lok Sabha MPRahul Gandhi will launch the party’s 3,500 km ;ong 150-day ‘Bharat JodoYatra’ in the southern tip of Kanniyakumari tomorrow in which lakhs of Congress workers are likely to participate.The party has billed the Yatra as an unprecedented mass contact programmeever undertaken in Independent India. According to TNCC sources Rahul will land in Chennai tonight around2030 hrs tonight for the Kanniyakumari to Srinagar Yatra and will stayovernight in the city. Tomorrow morning, accompanied by senior party leaders including TNCCPresident K.S.Alagiri, MPs, MLAs and other office-bearers and functionaries Rahul will visit his father and late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s memorialat Sriperumbudur about 40 km from the city. for a prayer meeting. Rahul will return to the city and will board a flight to Tuticorin tomorrow morningfrom where he will drive down to Kanniyakumari to kickstart the yatra, the aim ofwhich was to oppose the “divisive politics” of the BJP and the RSS, and to drawthe people’s attention to the “fascist BJP regime”, Apart from senior leaders, Chief Ministers from the Congress-ruled States, CWCmembers, MPs, MLAs, office-bearers and will attend the yatra launch.
According to Dinesh Gundu Rao, AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu, said the yatrawas something the country required to throw out the “fascist regime”. “They areworking on the principle of one man to rule the country, one language, one party….We are seeing violence everywhere. Even the Kashmiri pandits want to leaveKashmir. It is due to the BJP’s policies and actions,” he added. Rao exuded coinfidence that Tamil Nadu will provide the launch pad to send amessage across the country that the “fascist regime” should be thrown out. Rahul will also participate in an event in Kanyakumari where Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister and DMK President M K Stalin will hand over the National Flag to himand flag off the Yatra.Before the launch of the yatra, Rahul Gandhi will also visit Vivekananda RockMemorial, Thiruvalluvar Statue and Kamaraj Memorial in Kanyakumari. Following the event at Mahatma Gandhi Mandapam, Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders will address a public meeting. The yatra will traverse through the length and breadth of the country and coverthe southern states initially before covering the other states.
The party has listed 118 leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, as ‘Bharat Yatris’ whowill walk the distance between Kanyakumari and Srinagar. The average distancethey will cover per day will be 20-25 km.Alagiri said leaders of the ruling alliance in the state would take part in the yatraon different days. “The yatra is being organised to fight the RSS ideology, which he said is trying todivide people and establish sanatan dharma in the country”, he added. “Today, the Constitution is under attack. So, to unite the people, what is importantis to save the Constitution. The TNCC (Tamil Nadu Congress Committee) hasdecided to spread this message of saving the Constitution. Every Congressworker will visit every household in Tamil Nadu and spread this message ofthe Bharat Jodo Yatra,” Congress national coordinator K Raju said. According to senior leader and former Union Minister Jairam Rameshsimultaneously with the main Yatra, there will be separate small BharatJodo Yatras’ in states such as Assam, Tripura, Bihar, Odisha, Sikkim,West Bengal and Nagaland.The tagline of the yatra is ‘Mile Kadam, Jude Watan’.