New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will embark on the Bharat Nyay Yatra from January 14. The yatra, which will cover 85 districts in 14 states, is expected to culminate on March 20. Earlier, the Congress leader had taken out the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.This time, the yatra will start from Manipur’s capital, Imphal, and end in Mumbai. Addressing the media on December 26, Congress general secretary in charge of the organisation, K.C. Venugopal, the Bharat Nyay Yatra will cover Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. This time, the yatra will not be completely conducted on foot like the Bharat Jodo Yatra was. Instead, it will involve bus travel with intermittent walking stretches. He said more details would be shared later with the media.Congress’s general secretary, communication, Jairam Ramesh said the Bharat Nyay Yatra will focus on social, economic, and political justice of the country, just like how the Bharat Jodo Yatra had focussed on issues of economic disparities, polarisation, and dictatorship, he added.The party’s president, Mallikarjun Kharge, will flag off the yatra from Imphal. Asked why Manipur was chosen as the state from where the East-West version of the Bharat Jodo Yatra would begin, the Congress leaders said it was done to heal the wounds of the people of Manipur. They added that it was also because it’s an important part of the country.Manipur has witnessed some of the worst ethnic clashes for months which displaced thousands of people and left many dead. Gandhi had also toured the state when the violence was going on. The Congress party has turned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s failure to visit the state, either during or after the clashes, into a significant political issue.Asked if other partners of the INDIA alliance would also join the Bharat Nyaya Yatra, the party leaders said once again that the details were being worked out. During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, several leaders of other political parties had joined Gandhi for small stretches. When asked if the election campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha election would be affected by the yatra, Vengugopal said the election campaign and the yatra can go on together and asked the media to wait for details.
