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'I am here as an Indian': Kamal Haasan at Red Fort after joining Congress yatra
Veteran actor Kamal Haasan is the latest celebrity to join the Congress's padyatra, which has already covered nearly 3,000 km and will cover 12 states travelling a total of 3,570 km before culminating in Jammu and Kashmir in January-end.
Veteran actor Kamal Haasan on Saturday joined Rahul Gandhi-led Congress's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' as it marches ahead in New Delhi. Haasan is the latest celebrity to join the Congress's padyatra, which has already covered nearly 3,000 km and will cover 12 states travelling a total of 3,570 km before culminating in Jammu and Kashmir in January-end.
“Many people ask me why I am here. I am here as an Indian. My father was a Congressman. I had various ideologies and started my own political party but when it comes to the country, all political party lines have to blur. I blurred that line and came here,” Haasan said after the Bharat Jodo Yatra reached the iconic Red Fort.
“I stood in front of the mirror and said to myself – this is the time when the country needs me the most. Then a voice came from inside me 'Kamal... don't help break India, help unite'," he added.
The Gandhi family walked together in the yatra earlier in the day as former party president Sonia Gandhi, her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren joined Rahul Gandhi in the march.
Gandhi and her family members walked with Rahul Gandhi for a short distance till the yatra halted for the morning break at the Ashram Chowk in Delhi.
This is the second time Sonia Gandhi, also Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson, joined the yatra that began in September from Kanyakumari. She had earlier taken part in the march in October when it was in Mandya in Karnataka.
This is the first time the entire family has walked in the Bharat Jodo Yatra together.
Wearing a mask, Sonia Gandhi walked with Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Robert Vadra and her grandchildren and waved to the public waiting along the roads to see the family.
"The love that I have received from her, I am sharing the same with the country," Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Hindi with a picture of a warm hug with his mother.
The Congress also shared the same picture.
The yatra entered Delhi from Haryana Saturday morning and was accorded a warm welcome at the Badarpur border by party leaders and workers.
Traffic snarls were reported from parts of Delhi as the march made its way through the national capital. The yatra will halt near the Red Fort in the evening.
(With inputs from PTI)
