Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from January 14 to cover 15 states, 100 LS seats

Hyderabad: The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ will be started from Imphal on January 14 and will transverse 15 states covering a distance of 6,713 km involving 100 Parliamentary constituencies and 110 districts. The yatra is expected to conclude in Mumbai on March 20 or 21. While most of the distance will be covered by bus, Rahul Gandhi will walk some stretches of it along with people and other party leaders.

The ‘Nyay Yatra’ will spend a maximum of 11 days in Uttar Pradesh where it will travel a distance of 1,074 km covering 20 districts. The 15 states which will be covered by the ‘Nyay Yatra’, include Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday chaired a meeting of the PCC presidents, CLP leaders and AICC general secretaries/in charges of states. The meeting among others was also attended by former party president Rahul Gandhi.

In his opening remarks at the meeting, Kharge recalled how under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) defeated the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) 20 years ago, in 2004.

He said, at that time every worker across the country had worked hard to defeat the NDA and now the time has come when the workers need to work with the same zeal and dedication once again. “Time has come for the same dedication, commitment, zeal and hard work to ensure the party’s victory in the 2024 General Elections,” he said.

‘NDA exists only on paper’

Kharge listed important steps the party has taken including Donate for Desh crowd-funding ahead of the General Elections. Besides, he added, general secretaries’ and in-charges’ duties have been finalised while the Manifesto Committee has also been constituted.

Asserting that the NDA existed just in name now, Kharge said, in comparison, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was emerging stronger with parties having strong grass-roots cadres across the country, being part of it.

Taking a dig at prime minister Narendra Modi-led government, the Congress president said, it had not done a single thing in the last 10 years that could be termed as a milestone. “Politics of arrogance and lies comes with an expiry date”, he remarked while referring to the BJP government.

Ramifications of Bharat Jodo Yatra

Later briefing reporters, AICC general secretary in charge of the Communication Department, Jairam Ramesh said that there is a unanimous view that the momentum generated by the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the transformation it brought to Indian politics, needed to be carried forward.

Referring to the theme ‘Nyay’ of the yatra he said, it had been drawn from the Constitution, which in the Preamble seeks Justice including social, economic and political justice for the people of the country.