The Bharat Jodo Yatra ended on Monday with leaders of several parties joining Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as he ended his 145-day journey that covered some 4,000 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. The former Congress President unfurled the tricolour at the yatra campsite whereas party chief Mallikarjun Kharge hoisted the national flag at the Pradesh Congress Committee office.
From there the leaders went to the Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium at the foothills of the Shankaracharya Hills for a rally marking the grand finale of the cross-country yatra. "I have not done this (yatra) for myself or for the Congress but for the people of the country. Our aim is to stand against the ideology that wants to destroy the foundation of this country," Gandhi said.
Among the absentees of the 22 parties invited were the Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and JD(U). Gandhi also challenged the BJP to undertake a yatra such as his in Jammu and Kashmir. Putting out a statement on the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir, Gandhi said, "When I was walking to Kashmir, I thought this is the same route through which, years ago, my relatives came from Kashmir to Allahabad. I felt that I was returning my home. Since I was a child, I have lived in government accommodations, I do not have a house," said Rahul Gandhi.
He also recalled the moments when he was informed about the assassination of his grandmother and father, former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. "Those who incite violence – like Modiji, Amit Shahji, the BJP and the RSS - will never understand this pain. The family of an Army man will understand, the family of the CRPF personnel who were killed in Pulwama will understand, Kashmiris will understand that pain when one gets that call,” he said taking a dig at the BJP.
(With inputs from PTI)
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