Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka march together at Bharat Jodo Yatra in Delhi: Top 10
The Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Delhi on Saturday morning.
Thousands of people joined the Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra on Saturday as Sonia Gandhi, son Rahul and daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, were seen marching together in Delhi, months after the Kanyakumari to Kashmir foot march was launched with a focus on the revival of the grand old party. The party has been suffering multiple electoral setbacks since 2014 when it was voted out of power at Centre. On Saturday, however, the party put up a show of strength despite multiple attacks from the BJP.
Here are ten updates on the Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra:
1) Visuals showed Sonia Gandhi, the former Congress chief, marching with other party members in a show of unity. She had earlier been a part of the foot march in Karnataka. Along with her was daughter Priyanka, who has been credited for the party's recent win in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. Priyanka's husband, Robert Vadra, also joined the party leaders.
2) Rahul Gandhi kicked off the Delhi leg of the march with "love vs hate" attack on the BJP and the RSS, the rival's ideological parent. "They will spread hate. We will spread love," he said at a briefing at the Delhi-Haryana border before the entry of the march in the national capital.
3) After wrapping up the Rajasthan chapter, where the Sachin Pilot-Ashok Gehlot equation continued to be in focus, he had entered the BJP-ruled Haryana earlier this week.
4) The central government this week raised questions of the foot march, which has been drawing huge crowds across states since it was flagged off in September. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had even written a letter on the march, citing Covid protocol.
5) Even as Mandaviya stressed that this was not about politics, Rahul Gandhi - speaking at a briefing in Nuh - said Covid was just an excuse. “Hindustan ki shakti say, Hindustan ki sachai say, yeh log dar gaye hai, yeh sachai hai (they have got scared of power and truth of the country. This is the truth),” he said.
6) Traffic slowed down in the national capital on Saturday morning amid a massive crowd marching for Bharat Jodo.
7) An advisory was earlier issued by the Delhi Police, urging people to find alternate routes. The Congress entered Delhi via Badarpur Border and then took a pitstop at Ashram.
8) The leaders will gather at Red Fort on Saturday evening and will also pay respects at memorials of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi.
9) Several known faces, not connected to politics, have joined the Yatra so far, with former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan being the most recent.
10) After the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the party aims to launch 'Hath se Hath' Jodo to connect with youth from January 26 onwards.