'Bharat Jodo Yatra' participants march on undeterred by rain, blisters on feet

Amid intermittent rains and swelling public turnout, the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' entered the third day in Kerala on Tuesday, with the participants marching along undeterred when it began to rain.

Rahul Gandhi, who too is participating in the 3,500 km Kanyakumari-Kashmir foot march, said though the padayatris suffered from blisters on their feet, the campaign would go on.

Scores of people had lined up on the roadsides despite the rain to greet Rahul and the other padayatris.

In a Facebook post, Rahul said, "Even though the feet have blisters, we are out to unite the country, we are not going to stop. #BharatJodoYatra," and uploaded a related video clip.

The yatra, which commenced around 7.15 am from Kaniyapuram near Kazhakootam, saw an encouraging turnout of people like the previous two days of the Kerala leg of the foot march, which is set to cover 3,570 kilometres from Kanyakumari to Kashmir over a 150-day period.

When the yatra reached its first halt point of the day at Attingal, AICC general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "The padayatra has just reached the morning break point at Mamom near Attingal, where there will be a number of interactions with different groups."

On Monday evening, the yatra had covered 100 kilometres when it reached Kazhakootam.

Addressing a large crowd there, Rahul had said elections can be won with hatred, violence and anger, but it cannot solve the socio-economic problems facing the country.

"India's dream is broken, not scattered. To realise that dream, we are bringing India together. 100 km done. And, we have just begun," Rahul tweeted at the end of the day's yatra.

Ramesh had tweeted that the Bharat Jodo Yatra has completed exactly 100 km and that it has "rattled, unnerved and disturbed the BJP, whereas the Congress party has already been refreshed 100-fold. Every step we walk renews our resolve!"

The 150-day foot march was launched from Kanyakumari in neighbouring Tamil Nadu on September 7 and will cover 12 states and two Union territories.

The 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', which entered Kerala on September 10 evening, will traverse through the state covering 450 kilometres, touching seven districts over a period of 19 days before entering Karnataka on October 1.