From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Bharat Jodo Yatra of the Congress is not limited to 12 states through which it passes in five months since September 7 as smaller Yatras are planned separately in other states from which it is not going, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed on Monday.
Breaking away from the Yatra in Kerala for a day, he told a Press conference at the AICC headquarters here that he, along with Yatra commander Digvijaya Singh, will be in Assam for a smaller yatra on September 16, followed by West Bengal on September 17, Odisha on September 18 and then the shorter yatras in Bihar and Jharkhand too, he said.
He said the people’s response to the Bharat Jodo Yatra is unexpected as an estimated 5,000 commonmen turn up in the morning session from 7 to 10.30 AM without any mobilisation by the party while it swells to 25,000-30,000 in the afternoons and the evenings when the party workers too join it.
Jairam said Rahul Gandhi wanted it to start at 6 AM and cover 25 km every day, but he was politely convinced that it would be too early since it would require the people to wake up at 4 AM, finish breakfast and reach the venues for the padyatra.
So far, they are covering 19 km a day on an average and the target is to increase it to 21-22 km, Jairam said. Presently, the padyatra is going on in Kerala while it will be in Karnataka from October 1 to 22 and then to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
He said the BJP’s “lie factory” in working overtime, particularly on the social media, to make baseless and false statements that only show how much upset is the party on seeing the people’s response to the Congress effort to united the people. “We don’t expect anything from them except the lies, be they on t-shirt, shoes and the containers in which the yatris take rest in the night. These are childish remarks since the BJP leaders have nothing to say on the issues the Congress has brought out by the long walk,” he said.
Jairam said he can definitely assert that the Yatra has brought a new energy in the party at the block and district level, ushering in new life in the party organisation and bringing awareness among the people on the misdeeds of the Modi government. “The BJP and the RSS are not used to the kind of aggression we are letting out these days as those who stroke fire of hatred, prejudicies and falsehoods are only showing their frustration,” he added.
