All India Congress Committee (AICC) leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was hellbent on sabotaging Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, which will enter Kerala from the Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu on September 11.
Mr. Ramesh cryptically added: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has friends in many political parties. The BJP is capable of mischief. But the yatra will progress against all odds”.
He called the yatra a political mobilisation against the rising economic inequality, sundering of India's secular social fabric, senseless GST regime, spiralling cost of living, concentration of power in the Central government, and its misemployment of constitutional agencies as weapons to wreak political vendetta.
“The yatra is not linked to elections. It is Congress’s resounding answer to those who predict the party’s decline and eventual demise. For Mr. Gandhi, it is a pilgrimage. Mr. Gandhi will cover at least 23 km a day on foot, traverse Kerala, and meet citizens for 18 continuous days,” he said.
Digvijay Singh, the yatra's national coordinator, said other parties and civic groups were welcome to join the campaign.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Sudhakaran, AICC member in-charge of Kerala Tariq Anwar, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, MLA, Kodikunnil Suresh and Sashi Tharoor, MPs, were present.
