Guwahati: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi paid a visit to the memorial of his father, Rajiv Gandhi in Sriperumbudur of Tamil Nadu, ahead of launching the party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ which was set to begin on Wednesday from Kanyakumari.
According to reports, Gandhi will also be present at a ceremony when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin would present him with a Khadi national flag to kick off the yatra at the Mahatma Gandhi Mandapam in Kanyakumari.
The Congress has dubbed the yatra, which will be almost 3,500 kilometres long, as the nation’s largest march in more than a century. A rally will commence it at around 5:00 PM today, and the “padyatra,” or March, will start at 5:00 AM on Thursday.
Congress workers in thousands along with leaders will walk around six-seven hours every day to cover 12 states and two union territories. All state unit presidents and Congress Legislature Party leaders will hold the yatra in their respective states. It will be completed in around five months.
According to reports, Rahul Gandhi will walk all the way from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Speaking earlier, he had said that this yatra is like a ‘tapasya’ for him to unite the nation against rising social polarization and centralization in India.
The party has said that the yatra is the party’s biggest ever ‘Jan Samparka programme’ during which they will try to connect with the people at the grassroot level.