The Congress will launch its Manipur-to-Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, helmed by former party chief Rahul Gandhi, on Sunday from the historic Khongjom war memorial, situated on the outskirts of the state capital Imphal.
The party had planned to flag off the yatra from the Palace Ground in Imphal, but got conditional permission to do so, with the state administration placing a cap of 1,000 people attending the event. The party then decided to shift the launch of the yatra to the war memorial situated in Thoubal.
The yatra will be flagged off by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.
On the eve of the yatra, AICC General Secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said the endeavour was an ideological battle that the Congress has mounted against the politics of polarisation and social, economic and political injustice.
Ramesh said it is not an electoral yatra and should not be seen through the prism of winning elections.
“Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is the second step after the Bharat Jodo Yatra. While the Bharat Jodo Yatra was for seeking love and harmony across the country against the politics of hate and violence, Nyay Yatra is for seeking justice for the people of the country,” he said.
The yatra, he said, would focus on the issues of social, economic and political justice.
The yatra, which will cover 6,200 km in around 66 days, will be undertaken mostly by bus, and short duration foot matches covering around eight to ten kilometres will be held every day.
“There are four pillars of the constitution of the country, which include justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. The current regime, during the last ten years, has done everything to deny the people of the country social, economic and political justice,” Ramesh said.
He said Rahul, through the yatra, will spread the positive agenda on how to seek justice for the people of the country.
Ramesh observed that there was an atmosphere of fear prevailing in the country with women, scheduled tribes, scheduled castes, minorities and other sections of society feeling insecure. He said while India is the largest democracy in the world, right now it has turned into a one-man show.
“There is no loktantra but just ektantra”, he remarked, while adding, the yatra is aimed at strengthening the democracy and the democratic institutions of the country.
Kharge, at Saturday’s INDIA alliance meeting, formally invited all the leaders of the allied parties to participate in the yatra as it passes through various states like West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Maharashtra.
During the course of yatra, Rahul will address two public meetings every day. Besides, he will meet between 20 and 25 people every day from different sections of the society. He will also be interacting with the civil society groups.
During the next 11 days, the yatra will traverse through five north eastern states. On January 23, Rahul will hold a public interaction with the citizens in Guwahati in connection with the party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections.
Before starting the yatra, Rahul will pay homage to the martyrs at the Khongjom War Memorial. The historic memorial was inaugurated by the then President of India Pranab Mukherjee in 2016 when Ibobi Singh was the Chief Minister of Manipur.
Giving details of the Memorial, Ibobi Singh said it was built in memory of the martyrs of the last Anglo-Manipur War that took place in 1891, where the martyrs laid down their lives against the British.