Rahul Gandhi is leading the Congress’ Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra in more ways than one.
The talk of the march is about his walking speed.
On Saturday, the 24th day of the march, just after an early breakfast, Yogendra Yadav, a psephologist and the head of the Swaraj India party, tells me, with his signature placid smile, “I have participated in numerous yatras. “However, I have never witnessed a yatra that moves this quickly. And only Rahul Gandhi can be blamed for that.
Gandhi is making his way around the nation to promote his party’s image as the main challenger to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is currently in power. As he travels north, his train is currently passing through the state of Karnataka.
It’s not the first time that politics is being driven by Gandhi’s walking. The Congress lawmaker was accused by the Bharatiya Janata Party of inventing a hike to Tibet’s Mount Kailash in 2018. The Congress responded by displaying the pedometer reading from his smart watch, which showed an impressive 46,433 steps taken.
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Supporters Are Fully Motivate
For the supporters of Gandhi, walking is a major undertaking because the yatra covered 23 miles on Saturday. The chairman of the Youth Congress outreach cell and the son of the former chief minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, Chandy Oommen, has chosen a radical course of action: he is going barefoot. He tells me, “Believe it or not, it has improved my walking,” as I self-consciously glance down at my athletic shoes designed specifically for walking. “After going barefoot, my blisters vanished.”
Even Rahul Gandhi seems to have grumbled about how quickly the yatra is moving along. Gandhi released a video on September 29 in which he describes “knee troubles while walking” and claims that meeting people throughout the yatra helps him get over them.
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March Across Nation
Rahul Gandhi will march across the nation during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Which will traverse more than 3,500 kilometers over the course of about five months. To promote the Congress’ message of opposition to the BJP on problems like communalism, inflation, and unemployment.
I’ll be walking with the participants over the coming days and posting observations and comments from the field.
Read: Rahul Gandhi commemorates “Bapu” at the Khadi Center in Badanavalu.
