‘Transformative milestone in country’s politics’: Congress hails Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra on launch anniversary

On the third anniversary of the launch of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress on Sunday said it was a transformative milestone in the country’s politics and continues to resonate and reverberate.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the Bharat Jodo Yatra began three years ago today at Kanyakumari, with a visit to the Swami Vivekananda rock memorial and other iconic places and finally a public meeting.

The Yatra was undertaken to highlight the three pressing and worrying public issues of widening economic inequalities, deepening social polarisation, and growing political authoritarianism, Ramesh said on X.

“It was a 4,000 km padyatra undertaken by Rahul Gandhi and over 200 Bharat Yatris on foot from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. It went on for over 145 days, covering 12 states and 2 UTs,” the Congress general secretary said.

“The Yatra was a transformative milestone in our country’s politics. It continues to resonate and reverberate,” Ramesh said.

During the course of the march, 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.

With more than 4,000 km under his belt, Gandhi managed to catch the attention of his supporters as well as detractors. The march witnessed participation from a cross-section of society, including film and TV celebrities such as Kamal Haasan, Pooja Bhatt, Riya Sen, Swara Bhasker, Rashami Desai, Akanksha Puri and Amol Palekar.

Besides, writers and military veterans, including former Army chief Gen (Retd) Deepak Kapoor and ex-Navy chief Admiral (Retd) L Ramdas, and noted people such as former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan and ex-finance secretary Arvind Mayaram also participated in the yatra.

Opposition leaders such as the National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, People’s Democratic Party’s Mehbooba Mufti, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Aaditya Thackeray, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Sanjay Raut, and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Supriya Sule also walked alongside Gandhi at various points during the march.