A day after the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was halted due to alleged security lapses, the march resumed from Awantipora in south Kashmir on Saturday with PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti joining Gandhi and other Congress leaders.
Mehbooba, along with her daughter Iltija Mufti and a number of women, walked with Rahul from Chursu on Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
“Rahul Gandhi’s yatra comes like a breath of fresh air in Kashmir. It is the first time since 2019 that Kashmiris have come out of their homes in such massive numbers. Was a great experience to walk with him,” she tweeted while sharing a picture with Rahul walking in between the mother-daughter duo.
Congress leader and Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi also joined her brother near Lethpora before the yatra stopped for a break. Rahul also paid homage to the 40 CRPF personnel who were killed in a suicide car bomb attack at Lethpora by laying a bouquet at the spot where the paramilitary forces bus was blown up on February 14, 2019.
The night halt of the yatra will be at the truck yard in Pantha Chowk in the outskirts of Srinagar. On Friday National Conference leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah joined Rahul’s yatra from the highway town of Banihal.
On January 29, the yatra will resume from Pantha Chowk and walk up to Nehru Park on the banks of Dal Lake. Rahul will address a press conference there.
On Friday afternoon Rahul had to cancel his walk after it entered Kashmir, as the party alleged a security lapse and claimed the police arrangements by the Union Territory administration “completely collapsed.”
However, J&K police refuted the party's allegations saying only authorised persons as identified by organisers and frisked crowd were allowed inside towards the route of the yatra.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which started in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari on September 7, will end on January 30 in Srinagar with hoisting of tri-color after covering 12 states and two UTs. The yatra is set to be the first major unhindered political event in Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
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