Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: After the five-month long south-to-north Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi will embark on a 66-day 'Bharat Nyay Yatra’ from Imphal in the ethnic violence-hit Manipur to Mumbai starting on January 14. The yatra comes ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and aims to highlight issues related to economic, social and political justice.
Rahul’s second yatra -- this time from east to west -- will cover 6,200 km across 85 districts in 14 states, via bus and on foot.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Srinagar was a walkathon, covering 14 states and Union territories between September 7, 2022 and January 30, 2023.
The second yatra will be flagged off by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in Manipur on January 14. The yatra will end on March 20.
Announcing the new programme, which will focus on highlighting the plight of people amid unemployment and price rise, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal said the yatra is aimed at interacting with the youth, women and marginalised sections.
Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said the ‘yatra for justice’ is aimed at securing economic, social and political justice while raising the issue of saving democracy and Constitution as well as price and unemployment among other livelihood issues. He said Rahul had raised the issues of economic disparities, polarisation and dictatorship during Bharat Jodo Yatra.
It will cover Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. While Rahul will be travelling mainly by bus, he said, there will be short stretches of ‘padayatras’ too.
The yatra will pass through three states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – where the party recently lost elections. The yatra will be covering Rajasthan, MP and Maharashtra for the second time though Bharat Jodo Yatra had passed through it.
It also comes at a time I.N.D.I.A parties are initiating seat sharing talks and it will be interesting to see how allies like Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party respond to the Rahul yatra. Both the parties had skipped the Bharat Jodo Yatra despite invites to attend its conclusion in Srinagar while only eight of the 23 parties invited attended it.
Asked why Manipur was chosen as the starting point, Venugopal said the state is an important part of the north-east region, and it was an effort to heal the wounds of ethnic-violence hit state.
Jairam Ramesh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been silent on Manipur for over seven months and beginning the yatra from Manipur is a reflection of Congress’s concerns and anguish about how the BJP has destroyed the state.
“The Bharat Nyay Yatra will begin the process of rebuilding Manipur,” he said.
The decision on the yatra came following demand for Rahul to undertake a second yatra on the lines of the “successful” Bharat Jodo Yatra at the recently held Congress Working Committee. However, a few leaders expressed concern over diverting attention at a time the country is in election mode.
Venugopal maintained that one should not worry about Congress’s election arrangements as the yatra will not negatively impact the poll preparation of the party. He said a mechanism has been put in place for election management.