The Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi entered Delhi on Saturday from Faridabad in Haryana and was accorded a warm welcome at the Badarpur border.
Upon entering Delhi, Gandhi said the purpose of the Yatra is to showcase “real Hindustan” where people help each other, unlike the RSS and BJP’s version of a hate-filled one. Thanking people for joing the Yatra in “lakhs”, Rahul said he was out to “open a shop of love in the market of hate”.
Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi also joined the Yatra in Delhi. Priyanka’s husband Robert Vadra also joined it.
Senior Congress leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera, too, are walking alongside Rahul. The Yatra is in Ashram area when the report was filed.
While the Yatra has been drawing huge crowds in Delhi, covid protocols are not being observed. Even Rahul Gandhi himself is going without a mask despite Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya recently sending a letter to Rahul on the issue.
The Congress has trashed Mandaviya’s letter saying it is a ploy to thwart the Yatra which has struck a chord with people.
The Yatra will cover a 23km stretch in Delhi, starting from the Badarpur border and culminating at Red Fort, with a two-hour break in the afternoon. It will pass through Nizamuddin, India Gate, ITO, Delhi Gate and Daryaganj. After a day’s march through Delhi, the yatra will halt for around nine days before resuming on January 3.
Delhi Police have issued a traffic advisory and cautioned commuters about routes that will be affected by the Yatra.
