Congress looking to involve civil society organisations, intellectuals in Bharat Jodo Yatra

Sources said the meeting will see Congress leaders explain to the civil society and others how they could be part of the yatra

The Congress will hold a meeting of civil society representatives, intellectuals, and writers here next Monday in a bid to involve them in the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ beginning September 7.

The meeting is expected to see attendance of around 150 people at the Constitution Club where former party president Rahul Gandhi will interact with them.

Senior party leader Digvijaya Singh, who is coordinating the 3,500 km, 150-day, non-stop ‘padayatra’ against the ruling BJP in a bid to consolidate “momentum” it gained in the recent times, will explain the rationale of the yatra.

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Sources said the meeting will see Congress leaders explain to the civil society and others how they could be part of it. Activists like Yogendra Yadav have been contacted by the Congress to ensure participation of civil society organisations.

The Congress is also launching the logo, tagline and website dedicated to the yatra, which will cover 12 states and two Union Territories, on Wednesday.

Sources said the final route for the yatra was fixed after analysing seven probable routes the participants could take. The route was chosen after taking into consideration that it provides for the full yatra to be a ‘padayatra’.

“We looked at the geography and security aspects. We wanted it to be a full padayatra. We did not want this to be a mixed mode,” a senior leader said.

The yatra will cover Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir.

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Rahul Gandhi and other senior party leaders will participate in the ‘yatra’, which the party projects as a "reply to the BJP's attempts at 'Bharat Thodo' (Divide India)". Congress president Sonia Gandhi is unlikely to be present in Kanyakumari on September 7 when the yatra begins owing to her health condition.

After covering three days in Tamil Nadu, the yatra will enter Kerala on September 11 and will be in the state for 19 days, followed by Karnataka where it will cover 511 km in 21 days. The yatra will remain for 15-20 days each in Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Other states will be covered in 3-5 days.

The earlier plan finalised at the Udaipur Chintan Shivir was to start the yatra on October 2. The decision to explore the possibility of rescheduling the yatra came at a meeting of General Secretaries, in-charges, heads of frontal organisations and state presidents in July. Following this, the central leadership consulted the state units about the preparedness of the state units.