Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will attend a prayer meeting at his late father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s memorial in Sriperumbudur before the launch of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ on September 7. The Wayanad MP will also participate in an event in Kanyakumari where Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will hand over the national flag to him.
Following the event at Mahatma Gandhi Mandapam, where Stalin will be present, Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders will walk to the location of the public rally from where the yatra will be officially launched.
The 3,570-km yatra from Kanyakumari to Srinagar will be formally launched at the September 7 rally, but Rahul Gandhi and several other Congress leaders will start the journey at 7 am on September 8.
On September 11, ‘padayatra’ will reach Kerala and will proceed through the state for the next 18 days, reaching Karnataka on September 30.
After 21 days in Karnataka, the yatra will move northwards to other states.
The party has listed 118 leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, as ‘Bharat Yatris’ who will walk the distance between Kanyakumari and Srinagar. The average distance they will cover per day will be 20-25 km.
Among the 118 ‘Bharat Yatris’, nine are in the age bracket of 51-60, including Rahul Gandhi, news agency PTI mentioned sources as saying. They added that 20 of the 118 leaders are between the ages of 25-30, 51 are between 31-40, and 38 are between 41-50.
Starting in Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu), the yatra will move north, passing through Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Nilambur, Mysuru, Bellary, Raichur, Vikarabad, Nanded, Jalgaon, Indore, Kota, Dausa, Alwar, Bulandshahr, Delhi, Ambala, Pathankot, Jammu, and culminating in Srinagar.
Those participating in the yatra are classified as ‘Bharat Yatris’, ‘Atithi Yatris’, and ‘Pradesh Yatris’.
In response to over 37,000 registrations on ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ website, a new classification of “Volunteer Yatris” has been introduced.
