'Bharat Mata' is the voice of every Indian: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: As the country celebrated Independence Day, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said "Bharat Mata" is the voice of every single Indian, no matter how weak or strong.

In his message on Independence Day, he talked about his 145-day Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and shared his experience on how the people during his journey touched him all along.

"The object of my love had suddenly revealed herself. My beloved Bharat Mata was not a land. It wasn’t a set of ideas. It wasn’t a particular culture, history or religion. Neither was it the caste that people had been assigned.

"India was the voice of every single Indian, no matter how weak or strong. India was the happiness, the fear and the pain hidden deep inside all the voices," he said.

"To hear India, my own voice - my desires - my ambitions had to fall silent. India would speak to one of her own, but only if one was humble and completely silent," Gandhi said.

Sharing his experience all along the Yatra journey, he said, "how simple it had turned out to be. I had been looking in the river for that which could only be found in the sea." He quoted Persian poet Rumi to say, "If words come from the heart they will enter the heart". The former Congress chief also talked about the pain in his knee from an old injury that had surfaced soon after he started his Yatra, but subsided as the number of people grew larger and he received their energy.

"And then I started to notice something. Every time I would think about stopping, every time I considered giving up, someone would come and gift me the energy to continue," he said.

"It was as if a silent energy kept helping me, and like fireflies in a dark forest, it was everywhere. When I really needed it, it was there to help and to guide," Gandhi noted.

"Then one day, I felt a silence I had never felt before. I could hear nothing but the voice of the person holding my hand and talking to me. The inner voice that had spoken to me ever since I was a little child was gone. It felt as if something had died," he noted.

Congress president Kharge pledges to upload democracy

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday pledged to uphold democracy and the Constitution which he alleged were in danger.

On Independence Day, he saluted the sacrifices of innumerable Indians who gave up their lives during the freedom struggle, and said they not only made contribution to the national movement but also laid a strong foundation of India.

He also lauded the contribution of former prime ministers, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee who, he said, always worked for the country and took many steps for progress and development.

"It pains me to say that today, democracy, the Constitution and autonomous institutions - all three are in great danger," he lamented.

Noting that democracy and the Constitution are the soul of the country, he said on the occasion of this Independence Day, "we take a pledge that we will uphold the freedom of democracy and Constitution for the unity and integrity of the country, for love and brotherhood, for harmony and fraternity".

"With this determination, once again I extend my warmest wishes to all of you on Independence Day. 'Bharat Judega, INDIA Jeetega'," he said, referring to the tagline of the opposition alliance.

Inputs from PTI