Sonia Gandhi said, “In view of the medical check-ups that I am undergoing, I regret my inability to be with all of you in person this momentous evening to launch the historic Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir."
“I'll be participating daily (in Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in thought and spirit," Sonia Gandhi said in a message to the party, adding that the mass outreach programme is a landmark occasion for Congress. Sonia Gandhi also hoped that with the foot march, the organisation will be rejuvenated.
“This is a landmark occasion for our great party with such a glorious legacy -- the Indian National Congress. I am confident that our organisation will be rejuvenated," Sonia Gandhi said.
Sonia Gandhi described the occasion as a "transformational moment in Indian politics".
The Congress president congratulated the 120-odd party colleagues who will complete the entire "padyatra" and said there will be hundreds and thousands of others who will join the march in different states. “I extend my greetings to them as well," she said.
“I will, of course, be seeing the yatra live as it progresses. So, let us move forward united and firm in our resolve," the Congress president said.
The occasion also saw the handing over of the national flag to officially mark the start of the "padayatra", which the Congress has described as the longest ever undertaken by any political party in independent India.
In a symbolic gesture of the commencement of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin handed over the national flag to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and both the leaders saluted the tricolour, signifying the broad theme of unity.
