Rahul Gandhi embarked on East-to-West Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from violence-hit Manipur on Sunday. He is undertaking this two-month-long Yatra on a customised bus.
The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will traverse through 100 Lok Sabha segments and the party believes it will prove to be as “transformative” as Gandhi’s earlier cross-country march.
On a bus from Telangana, Rahul Gandhi will be covering 6,700 kilometres in 67 days across 15 states.
Also Read: As Rahul Gandhi marches again, a look at the electoral impact his first yatra had
Features of the bus:
The bus, with a Telangana registration, has an elevator and a conference room to hold meetings with civil society representatives.
On Monday morning, the Congress scion used the elevator that lifted him to the top of the bus from where he addressed the public gatherings at Kangkopi and Senapati.
The conference room inside the bus can accommodate up to eight people and Rahul will hold consultations with civil society members in this room. People on the road could see the meeting on the screen attached to the side of the bus.
The customised bus also has images of Congress president Mallikarkun Kharge and former party chief Sonia Gandhi. Inscriptions like ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ (shop of love), in reference to Rahul’s pet theme ‘nafrat ka bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukan’ (a shop of love in the market of hate).
Rahul interacts with people on day 2
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi began the second day of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Sekmai, Manipur, on Monday and interacted with the people who had lined up along the route to greet him.
Starting the yatra in a custom-made Volvo bus, Gandhi also walked for some distance meeting people and enquiring about their problems. Several people, mostly women and children, had lined up along the Yatra route and cheered on Gandhi as his bus made its way along several busy areas here.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “Day 2 of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra began bright and early at 7:30 am with the traditional flag hoisting by Seva Dal at the campsite. PCC President of Manipur @meghachandra_k hoisted the flag.”
“The yatra will move from Sekmai to Kangpokpi and then Senapati in Manipur before finally halting in Nagaland at night,” he said.
The yatra began on Sunday from violence-hit Manipur with Gandhi asserting that the party will present a new vision for India that will be based on harmony, brotherhood and equitability and devoid of hatred, violence and monopoly.