Foundation of better tomorrow: Rahul Gandhi on 1st anniversary of Bharat Jodo Yatra

Marking the first anniversary of 4,000 km Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi  on Thursday said that crores of steps towards unity and love have become the foundation of a better tomorrow for the country and it will continue till hatred vanishes and India unites.

Sharing a post X, Rahul Gandhi, who is on a week-long Europe trip said, "Crores of steps towards unity and love of Bharat Jodo Yatra have become the foundation of a better tomorrow for the country. The journey continues - till hatred vanishes, till India unites. This is my promise."

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge also hailed the 4,000 km yatra and said that it was a people's movement and unequaled in history.

"Bharat Jodo Yatra is a People’s Movement, unequalled in history. As the Yatra completes one year today, on behalf of the Indian National Congress, I congratulate Rahul Gandhi, all Bharat Yatris and the lakhs of our citizens who walked and joined in this historic endeavour. From Kanyakumari to Kashmir, Bharat Jodo Yatra covered more than 4000 Kms and carried a message of unity in diversity, with lakhs of people from all walks of life," he said.

Kharge said that the trend of manufacturing irrelevant headlines to divert attention from the real issues of people to hide the agenda of hate and division is a systemic attack on our collective conscience.

"The Yatra seeks to bring real issues of economic inequalities, price rise, unemployment, social injustices, subversion of Constitution, centralisation of power, to the centre stage of people’s imagination. The Yatra continues to fight the menace of hate and hostility in our society through a conversation. The Bharat Jodo Yatra is not just a physical endeavour, it is a sincere effort to rebuild our broken collective conscience.

"Our ingrained values of Justice, Liberty Equality, and Fraternity, for us, are supreme. The Congress party is continuously reaching out to people in an endeavour to reclaim our Constitution and protect our Democracy. Today,
Bharat Jodo Yatra continues...," he added.

Even Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said, "Nafrat ke Bazaar mein Mohabbat ki Dukaan (In the market of hatred, shops of love). A 4081 km-long tapasya (penance), which transformed the course of Indian politics."

"Wherever the Bharat Jodo Yatra went, it won hearts and began the countdown for the BJP-RSS to be thrown out of power. Lakhs of Congressmen and Congresswomen embarked upon a historic pilgrimage - to save the idea of India. We are proud of our sacrifices for Bharat Mata, our commitment to India," he said.

"The Bharat Jodo Yatra will touch every Indian, until hate is defeated and the voiceless find a voice. The Yatra continues," Venugopal said.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra began on September 7 last year from Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari and passed through 12 states and two Union Territories and passed 75 districts and 76 Lok Sabha constituencies.

To mark the first anniversary of Bharat Jodo Yatra, the party is holding a Yatra in 722 districts on Thursday between 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. which will be led by MPs, MLAs, ex Ministers, CWC members after that a meeting will be followed.