Congress MP Rahul Gandhi initiated his second extensive outreach program, the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, from Thoubal district in violence-affected Manipur, near Imphal. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and other prominent party leaders joined the launch ceremony in Thoubal. The yatra is intended to rejuvenate the party's electoral prospects for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, responding to the previous disappointing performance in the last round of assembly elections.
The initiation of Congress' yatra in Manipur gains significance amid the ongoing ethnic violence in the state, resulting in over 180 lives lost since May. The Congress has said that it is taking out the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is not an electoral one but is being taken out as the government did not give it a chance to raise people's issues in Parliament and the initiative is aimed at re-establishing the principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity enshrined in the Constitution.
The Yatra will travel through 100 Lok Sabha segments in 15 states before it culminates in Mumbai on March 20 or 21.
Addressing the people of Manipur at the launch event of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday promised to bring peace and harmony to the ethnic violence-hit state. He also alleged that the violence in the state was due to “the politics of the BJP-RSS and their hatred”. “We understand the pain that the people of Manipur have been through. Manipur has lost what it valued the most because of the politics of the BJP-RSS and the hatred they instil,” Gandhi said. “We will bring back the harmony, peace and affection that the state has always been known for.”