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Rousing welcome to Bharat Jodo Yatra in Shamli
People in large numbers could be seen on the route of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra to welcome it in Shamli district
People in large numbers could be seen on the route of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra to welcome it in Shamli district. Later in the evening, the yatra entered Panipat in Haryana after completing its two-day routes in Uttar Pradesh.
Rahul Gandhi resumed the yatra from Ellam Town of Shamli district on Thursday morning. Despite severe cold, Rahul Gandhi and ‘Bharat Yatris, who have been with the yatra since its beginning from Kanyakumari on September 7 last year, started early in the morning. The yatra will conclude in Jammu and Kashmir in the last week of January.
The temperature dipped further in the area on Wednesday night. However, thousands of locals and Congress activists queued up since morning to welcome the yatra. The yatris and people waved national Tricolour and flags of the Congress party. Visibly excited locals were seen trying to grab videos and photographs of Rahul Gandhi and yatra in their mobile phones. The Congress leader also responded by waving to people.
Rahul visited the house of one Jahid Hasan in Jidana village and spent half-an-hour with his family members. Jahid said the Congress leader enquired about the wellbeing of his family. Jahid said he shared a few of his problems with him.
Rahul Gandhi and Bharat Yatris stayed at Uchagaon after completing the first leg of the yatra from Elam to Uchagaon. A farmer Ramchandra Singh offered his 5 bigha land to set up tents where Rahul and other yatris stayed before starting their second leg of yatra from there to Panipat via Kairana.
Party’s Shamli district unit chief Deepak Saini and his team welcomed Rahul Gandhi and other yatris with a 35-feet long garland. “The Bharat Jodo Yatra will cover 3500 km. Therefore, we welcomed the yatris with a 35 feet long garland,” Saini said.
People in large numbers also turned up in Kandhla and Kairana to welcome the yatra. The activists of Rashtriya Lok Dal, Mahan Dal and Bharatiya Kisan Union besides people from different sections of the society also joined the yatra and appreciated the efforts of Rahul Gandhi.
Mahan Dal president Keshav Dev Maurya also joined the yatra in Shamli. Maurya snapped alliance of his party with the Samajwadi Party ahead of 2022 U.P. polls. People waited on both sides of the road from Unchagaon to Yamuna Bridge, which is approximately 8 km long, to watch and welcome the yatra. People also gave a rousing welcome to yatra in Kairana. Yatra coordinator and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh addressed media persons in Unchagaon.
He said two-month long ‘Join Hand to Hand’ campaign would be started in the country from January 26 to further spread the message of Bharat Jodo Yatra. “Bharat Jodo Yatra is not an event but a movement and it will continue,” said Ramesh.
He alleged that that the RSS and the BJP were dividing people on the lines of religions, castes and communities. Ramesh said 118 people along with Rahul Gandhi started the yatra from Kanyakumari and they were given name ‘Bharat Yatris’. He said now there were a total 200 ‘Bharat Yatris’.
He said 23 out of these 200 yatris were from Uttar Pradesh and these yatris introduced themselves to the media. The Congress MP also said discussions were under way to take out a similar “ Bharat Jodo Yatra” from west to east so that it could also cover those states which were not on the route of the ongoing yatra.
