Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will embark on the ‘Bharat Nyay Yatra’ from Manipur’s capital Imphal on January 14 and culminate in Maharashtra’s Mumbai on March 20. The Yatra comes a year after the culmination of the 4,500-km foot march undertaken by the Congress MP between September 7, 2022 and January 30, 2023.
While the Bharat Jodo Yatra covered 12 states along its journey, the Bharat Nyay Yatra will traverse through 85 districts across 14 states. The Yatra, coming just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held in April-May 2024, is expected to provide a much-needed boost to the Congress rank and file across states following its unimpressive performance in the recently concluded Assembly elections in five states.
— Congress (@INCIndia) December 27, 2023
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Announcing the Bharat Nyay Yatra at a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday, Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal said that at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee on December 21, a unanimous opinion was shared that Rahul should embark on the second phase of his Bharat Jodo Yatra from East to West.“Rahul Gandhi has agreed to fulfill the wishes of the CWC. The All India Congress Committee has decided to hold a Bharat Nyay Yatra from January 14 to March 20 from Manipur to Mumbai. Rahul led a yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir traveling 4,500 km. It was a historic Yatra in Indian political history. Now, Rahul Gandhi is embarking on a Yatra with the great experience of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Certainly, through this yatra, he is going to interact with the youth, women, marginalised and different people from different areas,” Venugopal said addressing the press.
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The Yatra will cover 6,200 km and traverse through Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat before it culminates in Maharashtra.
“This yatra will cover 14 states and 85 districts. The mode of Yatra is by bus. It allows maximum access to the people on the way but it will also have short stretches of walking every now and then. This Bharat Nyay Yatra is going to be among the most historic ones in the country,” Venugopal further said, adding that more details of the Yatra will be shared over the coming days.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra that ended in January in Kashmir was immediately followed by the Congress party’s victory in the Karnataka elections. The Congress, however, insists that the Bharat Nyay Yatra in 2024 is not a political march but is instead meant to connect with people and offer them love and hope.