Rahul Gandhi will begin Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur today
Rahul Gandhi (Photo: PTI)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will embark on his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from violence-hit Manipur on Sunday as the party looks to set the narrative ahead of the Lok Sabha polls by shining a spotlight on issues like unemployment, price hike and social justice.
A day before the yatra, the Congress claimed that the yatra is an ideological yatra and not an electoral one and that it was against the “anyay kaal” (period of injustice) of ten years of Narendra Modi’s government.
The yatra will be flagged off from a private ground in Thoubal district, instead of Imphal, the party’s original choice.
The state government had given conditional approval to the Congress to conduct the yatra from the Palace Grounds in the state capital, limiting the number of participants. That is why the conference decided to choose a different location.
The Thoubal district administration has also imposed some restrictions, such as the duration should not exceed one hour and the number of participants should not exceed 3,000.
The yatra will pass through 100 Lok Sabha constituencies in 15 states and the party believes it will prove to be as ‘transformative’ as Rahul Gandhi’s earlier cross-country march.
The Congress has said it is canceling the yatra as the government has not given it an opportunity to raise people’s issues in Parliament. The initiative aims to restore the principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity enshrined in the Constitution.
The yatra will cover 6,713 km, mostly in buses but also on foot. It will cover 110 districts in 67 days before ending in Mumbai on March 20 or 21.
While the Congress has repeatedly emphasized that this is not an electoral yatra, it comes at a crucial time as the party tries to revive its fortunes after a poor performance in the last round of assembly elections.
With the BJP focusing on the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple on January 22, the Congress wants to shine the spotlight on bread-and-butter issues through this yatra.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: January 14, 2024 | 8:43 am IST