Amid intermittent rains and increased public participation, Rahul Gandhi‘s Bharat Jodo Yatra entered its third day in Kerala on Tuesday, with the Congress leader and dozens of supporters marching through the streets without an umbrella as it rained. Gandhi, who embarked on the 3,500-km Kanyakumari-Kashmir march, said that though the participants were suffering from blisters on their feet, the campaign would continue.
Scores of people lined the roadsides despite the rain in the city to greet Gandhi and other padayatris. Congress leaders, including Gandhi, walked the streets without umbrellas when it rained. In a Facebook post, Gandhi said, “Even with blisters on our feet, we are going to unite the country, we will not stop. #BharatJodoYatra,” and uploaded a related video clip.
The third day of the yatra, which started around 7:15 am from Kaniyapuram near Kazhakootam, saw an encouraging turnout like the previous two days of the Kerala foot march, which is expected to cover 3,570 kilometers from Kanyakumari to Kashmir over a 150-day period. As the yatra reached its first halting point of the day at Attingal here, AICC general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “The padayatra has just reached the morning halting point at Mamom near Attingal where a series of interactions will take place. with different groups.”
The yatra is scheduled to resume at 5 pm and end the day at Kallambalam junction here. On Monday evening, she covered 100 kilometers of the yatra when she reached Kazhakootam. Addressing a large crowd, Gandhi said that elections can be won with hatred, violence and anger, but they cannot solve the socio-economic problems facing the country. “The dream of India is broken, not scattered. To realize that dream, we are putting India together. 100 km done. And we have just begun,” Gandhi tweeted at the end of the day’s yatra.
Ramesh tweeted that the Bharat Jodo Yatra had covered exactly 100 km and that it had “shaken, unnerved and disturbed the BJP, while the Congress party has already been revived 100 times. Every step we take renews our resolve!” The 150-day foot march started from Kanyakumari in neighboring Tamil Nadu on September 7 and will cover 12 states and two Union Territories. The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which entered Kerala on September 10 evening, will traverse 450 kilometers across the state, touching seven districts in 19 days, before entering Karnataka on October 1.
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