Kanhaiya Kumar, Pawan Khera: Look who's joining Rahul Gandhi for Congress' Bharat Jodo yatra

Accompanied by 117 Congress leaders, Rahul Gandhi is set to embark  on a 3,570 kilometre walkathon from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.

Dubbed ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, the initiative is a mass-outreach programme by the Congress ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

However, Congress has denied any political angle and said the padyatra “is meant for peace and not to divide”, NDTV reported.

But what is Bharat Jodo Yatra? Who will be accompanying Rahul Gandhi?

Let’s take a look at Congress’ five-month walkathon:

Congress’ over 100-day long Bharat Jodo Yatra

Before launching the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari on 7 September, Rahul Gandhi will attend a prayer meeting at former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s memorial in Sriperumbudur. Rahul will also attend an event at the Mahatma Gandhi Mandapam where Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin will hand over the national flag to him, sources told PTI.

Following the event, Rahul , along with other Congress leaders, will flag off the Bharat Jodo Yatra at a public rally.

On 8 September, the former Congress president will kick-start the 3,500-km-plus yatra from Kanyakumari to Srinagar at 7 am, PTI reported.

The Congress leaders undertaking the padyatra are termed ‘Bharat yatris’, who will on average cover a distance of 20-25 km per day.

The other classifications of the yatris include ‘atithi yatris’, ‘pradesh yatris’ and ‘volunteer yatris’.

“The core people, who will walk the entire distance, will be the Bharat yatris. Second will be the atithi yatris who will come from states through which the main yatra is not passing. Third will be the pradesh yatris who will be from the states through which the yatra is passing. Each category will have about 100 people. At a given time, about 300 people will therefore be participating in the padyatra,” ThePrint quoted senior Congress Digvijay Singh as saying.

From Kanyakumari, the Bharat Jodo Yatra will then advance towards Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Nilambur, Mysuru, Bellary, Raichur, Vikarabad, Nanded, Jalgaon, Indore, Kota, Dausa, Alwar, Bulandshahr, Delhi, Ambala, Pathankot, Jammu, and finally, conclude in Srinagar after over more than four months.

“This will be the Janata Ki Chintan yatra.There won’t be speeches or slogans against the prime minister. It will be a silent march to understand the problems of the people,” PTI quoted AICC general secretary in charge (Communications) Jairam Ramesh as saying.

Rahul Gandhi’s fellow yatris

Of the 117 Congress members participating in the yatra, 34 are women. The highest number of Bharat Yatris (15) come from Uttar Pradesh, followed by Madhya Pradesh (10), Rajasthan (9) and Maharashtra (9), as per Indian Express.

Nine leaders, including Rahul Gandhi fall in the age group of 51-60 years, 20 are in the age bracket of 25-30, 51 between 31-40 and 38 between 41-50, sources told PTI.

According to Indian Express, the list of 117 Bharat Yatris include former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar, Congress media department head Pawan Khera, former Punjab minister Vijay Inder Singla, ex-Bihar MLA Amit Kumar Tunna, ex-Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy’s son Chandy Oommen, Youth Congress leaders Pratibha Raghuwanshi and Sitaram Lamba, among others.

Former Youth Congress president Keshav Chandra Yadav, Uttarakhand Mahila Congress president Jyoto Rautela, secretary of the communication department of the Uttarakhand Congress Vaibhav Walia will also undertake the padyatra.

Rahul  will participate in most of the yatras and take breaks to campaign for the upcoming Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat Assembly elections slated later this year.

During the yatra, Rahul  and the rest of the Congress delegation will sleep in shipping container cabins at night, NDTV reported.

Rahul reaches out to civil society members

Earlier on 23 August, the Wayanad MP interacted with a host of civil society activists at Delhi’s constitutional club, following which they announced support for Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Among those who met Rahul were prominent names such as co-founder of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) Aruna Roy, Swaraj Abhiyaan or Swaraj Party head Yogendra Yadav, writer and cultural activist Ganesh Devy, feminist writer and former Planning Commission member Syeda Hameed, and founder of the Safai Karmachari Andolan Bezwada Wilson.

Urging the civil society activists to “unite and march in solidarity”, Rahul Gandhi told them that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is about “reclaiming the soul of the country and he would embark on the journey even if no one joins him”, India Today reported.

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.