The Bharat Jodo Yatra will conclude in Srinagar on January 30—on the 150th day of yatra—coinciding with Mahatma Gandhi's martyrdom day with senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hoisting the Tricolour in the Kashmir capital.
By then, the 'padayatra' that started from Kanyakumari on September 7 last year would have travelled at least 3,570 states, covering 12 states and two union territories. Himachal Pradesh will be an addition to the state from the original plan.
In Kashmir, senior Opposition leaders like Farooq Abdullah of National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti of PDP will take part but the Congress did not confirm extending an invite to former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The yatra will be resuming its second leg from Delhi on Tuesday after a nine day break and will enter Uttar Pradesh in the afternoon. In UP, it will spend three days before re-entering Haryana where the yatra will be till January 10. The yatra will travel through Punjab between 11 and 18 and then on 20 before entering Jammu and Kashmir. On January 19, the yatra will pass through Himachal Pradesh.
While SP's Akhilesh Yadav, BSP's Mayawati and RLD's Jayant Singh have expressed their inability to attend the yatra in Uttar Pradesh, the UP unit of Nitish Kumar's party has announced that it will attend the yatra in the state.
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On his part, Akhilesh wrote to Rahul thanking him for the invite and best wishes for the yatra. "India is a feeling which is beyond geographical expansion, where there is love, non-violence, emotions, co-operation and bonhomie -- the positive elements, which unite India. Hope that this yatra achieves its aim of conserving this inclusive culture," he said.
So far, according to Congress General Secretaries K C Venugopal (Organisation) and Jairam Ramesh (Communications), the yatra has covered 3,122 km from Kanyakumari to the Red Fort in Delhi.
Over the 108 days, the Yatra has covered 49 districts in nine states and one Union Territory -- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi.
Venugopal said state-level yatras have already started in some states while the upcoming 'Haath Se Haath Jodo Abhiyan' will take the message of uniting India to the doorstep of every Indian.
"This Yatra is truly a Yatra for listening to the people of India. The Yatra listens to people through large numbers of meetings," he said.
Venugopal said Rahul had 87 sit-down interactions of 30-40 min with various groups consisting of 30-40 people so far during the yatra besides 95 corner meetings. There were another 10 large public meetings and nine press conferences.
There have been over 200 planned walks with smaller groups of 4-5 people, which range from celebrities to intellectuals to activists to ex-servicemen to local children.
He said the spirit of Bharat Jodo has also been celebrated with visits to several important religious and spiritual centres, interactions and performances by numerous artistes, and two Bharat Jodo concerts, he said.