“Bharat Jodo Yatra received a great response in the country. We saw the resilience and strength of the people of India during this journey. We also got to hear about the issues being faced by farmers, and unemployed youth in the country,” Rahul said during a media briefing in J&K’s Srinagar.
The Congress MP from Wayanad said that the yatra will have an impact on the Indian polity but added that he cannot tell yet what exactly it will be.
“Bharat Jodo Yatra was from South to North but had national effect,” Rahul asserted.
Statehood and restoration of democratic process in Jammu-Kashmir are fundamental and very important
Rahul Gandhi
Keeping hopes alive of a possible anti-BJP front, Rahul said that while opposition parties may have their differences, they will always stand united against RSS and BJP.
Earlier, Rahul unfurled the national flag at the historic clock tower of Lal Chowk in the heart of Srinagar as part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra and said a “promise” made to India has been fulfilled.
On the final day, Rahul, along with his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, party leaders and workers, resumed the final lap of the yatra in Jammu and Kashmir from Srinagar’s Pantha Chowk around 10:45 am.
Those part of the march walked for about eight kilometres to Sonwar raising slogans such as “Jodo Jodo Bharat Jodo”, and along the way, were cheered and greeted by locals.
Within a multi-layer security ring, Gandhi, in a white T-shirt which he has sported for most of the over 4,000-kilometre yatra from India’s southern tip, waved at people as yatris, including a large number of women, carrying the tricolour and Congress flags, moved towards Sonwar.
After reaching their destination, Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other senior party leaders drove to the party’s headquarters at M A Road. Later, they headed to Lal Chowk, where the former Congress president unfurled the national flag.
“By hoisting the tricolour at Lal Chowk, the promise made to India was fulfilled today. Hate will lose, love will always win. There will be a new dawn of hopes in India,” Gandhi tweeted in Hindi after the event.
The yatra, which was launched on September 7 last year in Kanyakumari, has traversed 12 states and two Union Territories.
It will officially culminate with the hoisting of the national flag at the Congress office in Srinagr on Monday.
On Monday, a public rally will also be held at the SK Stadium for which 23 opposition political parties have been invited by the Congress.
