Kanyakumari: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, along with several party leaders, embarked on the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from here on Thursday, marking the beginning of a challenging journey through which the party is seeking to reach out to people and rejuvenate its organisation.
Ahead of the start of the padyatra, Gandhi hoisted the national flag at the campsite of the Bharat Yatris, who will walk with him through the 3,570 km journey from Kanyakimari to Kashmir.
Gandhi began the padyatra from Agasteeswaram here, along with 118 'Bharat Yatris' as well as other party leaders from across the country.
Gandhi on Wednesday had flagged off the party's ambitious 'Bharat jodo' yatra with an assertion that he will not lose his country to hate and accused the BJP-RSS of trying to divide the country on religious lines.
Yatra a life saver: Jairam Ramesh
Terming the Bharat Jodo Yatra a life saver, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said the cross-country grassroots campaign will see the party emerge in a new aggressive avatar that cannot be taken for granted by either friends or political adversaries.
Ramesh, the party's general secretary in-charge of communications, slammed the BJP for its criticism of the yatra.
The more the BJP talks about it, the more evident it is that the party is rattled, Ramesh told PTI after the morning session of the yatra.
"I am 100 per cent sure this Bharat Jodo Yatra is the 'sanjivani' for the Congress, it is a life saver, it is going to revive the Congress, it is going to refresh the Congress, it will renew the Congress, it will be a Congress in a new avatar," Ramesh said.
Sanjivani' is a reference to a mythological life-saving herb figuring in the Hindu epic Ramayana
The Congress has had many avatars in 137 years, and there will be a new avatar now, according to Ramesh.
"It will be a more aggressive Congress, it will be a more active Congress, it will be an 'on-the-street' Congress and... a Congress that cannot be taken for granted anymore, either by friends or by its political adversaries."
"We have been taken for granted even by our friends and allies, not just by our political opponents and adversaries," Ramesh added.
The Congress is a pre-eminent political force in the country, the oldest political party, he asserted.
"We may not be in power but we certainly have a presence in every mohalla, village, town, it is very clear and very apparent," Ramesh said.
Of the over 3,500 km, the party covered 13 km in the morning session. The leaders took about three hours to reach Suchindram, Kanyakumari.
Landmark occasion
Eyeing the revival of the crisis-ridden party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, party chief Sonia Gandhi had described the march as a "landmark occasion" and hoped that the march would help rejuvenate the grand old party.
The march would cover 12 states and two Union Territories in about five months.
The march will move in two batches from 7 am to 10:30 am and from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm. While the morning session will include fewer participants, the evening session will see mass mobilisation. The participants plan to walk around 22-23 km daily.
About 30 per cent of 'Bharat Yatris' are women. The average age of Bharat Yatris is 38.
About 50,000 citizens have also registered to participate in the Yatra.
After reaching Kerala on September 11, the Yatra will traverse through the state for the next 18 days, reaching Karnataka on September 30. It will be in Karnataka for 21 days before moving north.
It will pass through Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Nilambur, Mysuru, Bellary, Raichur, Vikarabad, Nanded, Jalgaon, Indore, Kota, Dausa, Alwar, Bulandshahr, Delhi, Ambala, Pathankot, Jammu, and end in Srinagar.
