Gearing up for the upcoming pan-India ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, which is scheduled to commence on September 7 from Kanyakumari, the Congress officially launched a website, logo, tagline, and pamphlet of the Yatra here on Tuesday.

The party said the aim of the Yatra is to unite India; to come together and get the country back on its feet. Veteran Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Digvijaya Singh jointly spelt out details of the programmes of the event.

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The tagline reads: ‘Mile Kadam, Jude Vatan’.

Giving details about the Yatra, Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said after getting kick-started on September 7, the Yatra will pass through 12 states and two Union Territories and culminate in Jammu and Kashmir – covering a distance of nearly 3,500 kilometres in a time period of about 150 days.

He said the Yatra will also be organised in all the states.

The Congress party said senior leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, will actively participate in the march. Those unable to join physically will help spread its message by organising events and participating in online campaigns.

It said people from all walks of life will join it at various points, and march together. It will be a celebration of India’s unity, a festival of hope that will come alive with musical programmes and contests that anyone can participate in.

“This is an open invitation to all to join and walk with us. India belongs to all of us. ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is for all.” the party said.

Economically, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, the party said, adding that the common people are distressed by sky-rocketing inflation and unemployment.

” ‘Kisans’ and ‘Khet mazdoors’ are being buried under debt. The assets of our country are being sold to crony capitalists at a huge loss,” it said.

“Socially, people are being divided on the basis of caste, religion, region, language, food, dress,” the party alleged, adding that every day, a new conspiracy is hatched to make one Indian fight another. There is a growing sense of insecurity, especially among women.

It said politically, today the voices of people are being suppressed and “our Constitutional rights are being crushed. Efforts are being made in a systematic manner to subvert our Constitution, dismantle our institutions, hollow out our democracy, and destroy our unity and fraternity”.

It said the state governments elected by the people, are being destabilised by money power and misuse of agencies. “The states are not getting the tax money owed to them by the Union government on time. Dalits, adivasis, backward classes are being deprived of their basic rights-jal, jangal and zameen”.

The party said to tackle this is to come together, hold hands, and understand the power of unity.

“We must start a movement to get rid of the politics of division and hate, strengthening social harmony along the principles of ‘Unity in Diversity’ and ‘Sarva Dharma Sambhava’,” it said.

The Congress General Secretary (Communications) said, ” ‘Bharat Jodo’ is the need of the hour. Inflation, GST, unemployment are breaking India. Social polarisation is being done in the name of religion, caste, language, food, clothes. In politics, the Centre is overpowering.”

“This is the yatra of the Congress party but we have requested all parties to join, we have appealed to the Civil Society too. Our aim is to strengthen Congress organisation and that we get an opportunity to go among the public,” the Congress General Secretary (Communications) said.

“This is a mass movement – to create awareness among people and strengthen the organisation. We need to be aggressive, In a way, this is a preparation for the 2024 elections,” he said.