The Congress' Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will be flagged off from Thoubal district in strife-torn Manipur on January 14, an event which will be conducted amid restrictions. Though the state government initially declined permission for Yatra's initial venue, it later gave the nod, but with ‘with limited number of participants’.
As per the new restrictions, the programme should not exceed an hour and the number of participants shouldn't exceed 3000. The permission was issued by the office of Thoubal deputy commissioner on January 11 and was shared by the party with the reporters here on Saturday, a day ahead of the yatra. Earlier, the Imphal East district magistrate had ordered that the number and name of the participants shall be provided in advance so that all necessary precautionary measures can be taken.
The cap on programme timing has been mandated because the venue is just beside and along the national highway and traffic has to be diverted to alternate routes.
The Congress had changed the venue from Imphal Palace Ground to a private ground in Thoubal after the BJP-led N Biren Singh government had given conditional approval to flag off the yatra from the Palace grounds in Imphal restricting the number of people to 1000.
The participants of the Yatra have been asked not to use any anti-national or communal slogans. "There shall be no anti-national or communal or any adverse slogan during the rally and the Yatra" and the organisers should fully cooperate with the state authorities. The permission for the Yatra will stand cancelled if any situation arose "warranting such gathering to be disassembled in order to maintain peace, public order and tranquillity in the area", the order from Thoubal deputy commissioner read.
The Yatra is slated to be flagged off from a private ground at Khongjom area in Thoubal district on Sunday and Rahul Gandhi will lead it. AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and top leaders of the party will participate in the programme.
The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will travel through 100 Lok Sabha segments in 15 states before it culminates in Mumbai on March 20 or 21. Congress believes it will prove to be as "transformative" as Gandhi's earlier cross-country march.
On Saturday, the Congress said the Yatra was an ideological yatra and not an electoral one, adding that it was being taken out against the "anyay kaal" of 10 years of the Narendra Modi government. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the biggest challenge before the country is that it is facing an ideology which believes in polarisation, economic inequalities and political authoritarianism. "The prime minister shows golden dreams of 'amrit kaal' but what is the reality of the last 10 years - 'anyay kaal'. No mention of 'anyay kaal' is made while big boasts of 'amrit kaal' are projected," Ramesh said.
