INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
RAIPUR: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, in his concluding address to the three-day brainstorming session in Raipur, lauded the Bharat
Jodo Yatra for spreading the vision of "inclusive India" as an alternative to BJP's world view
Also, enthused by its success, the party has decided to launch this year a follow up to the Bharat Jodo Yatra, this time from East-to-West -
Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh to Porbandar in Gujarat.Party member Rahul Gandhi said, "The Yatra was a four-month 'tapasya (penance) and you
saw how it brought the party and the country alive
This is a party of 'tapasvis' and not 'pujaris'
The tapasya should not stop and programmes should continue
Kharge ji, plan a 'tapasya ka programme' and we will give our blood and sweat
As we move, the country will stand with us in tapasya.""Bharat Jodo Yatra Part 2 is under active consideration
Various ideas are being debated," said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh.Priyanka Gandhi Vadra drew loud applause with her brief
remarks in which she sought to connect with ordinary workers
"Who is a Congress worker? He is Anokhelal, Dinesh, who carried the national flag from Kanyakumari to Kashmir..
there is a lifelong Congress sufferer, a worker who struggles the whole life for his identity," she said, as she urged them to take the
message and plans drafted at plenary to the ground.Priyanka said, with the Yatra, Rahul has set the bar high on ideological commitment
"In Kashmir, some women said they had not left their homes for three years, but the Yatra had given them courage to step out
Giving this strength to people is the job of Congress," she said.Speaking at the plenary, Rahul narrated his interactions and experiences
He said he has not had a sense of home since his childhood when his family left the (government) house in 1977 (a reference to the PM House
following Indira Gandhi-Congress' election defeat)
But during the yatra, he imagined the 25 feet security cordon around him as his home where he invited common folks for interactions during
He said it brought him face to face with the struggles of common folks, farmers, youth, women, saying joblessness, inflation, domestic
violence are realities crushing people.Kharge said the party will intensify its fight against RSS and BJP which want to "teach Manuwad and
Manusmriti" and create polarisation, giving a sharp ideological edge to the message from the plenary session to the rank and file
He slammed the 'National Education Policy' as "Nagpur Education Policy, an RSS document" which will take India backwards.
