Assam Congress starts state version of Bharat Jodo Yatra
The Bharat Jodo Yatra in Assam will pass through 13 of the 33 districts in the state and cover 834 km in 70 days
The opposition Congress in Assam on Tuesday kick-started a state version of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the party’s ongoing Kanyakumari to Kashmir foot march, to connect with voters in a bid to revive its fortunes in the northeastern state.
The yatra was flagged off from Golokganj in Dhubri district of western Assam by Congress general secretary in charge of Assam, Jitendra Singh.
State unit chief Bhupen Kumar Borah, Lok Sabha MP from Assam Gaurav Gogoi and several senior leaders took part in the first day’s event. The yatra will pass through 13 of 33 districts in Assam and cover 834 km in 70 days and culminate at Sadiya in Tinsukia district in eastern part of the state.
“The yatra will cover 5 of the 14 parliamentary constituencies in the state and 60 of the 126 assembly constituencies and we will interact with the general public and our grass root party workers,” Borah said ahead of the march.
Before the start of the yatra, Borah and other leaders visited several religious places in Dhubri including the Mahamaya Temple, Panbari Mosque, Tegh Bahadur Gurudwara and the Ram Rai Kuthi Satra. The leaders also addressed a public gathering at Golokganj.
Apart from Dhubri, the yatra will cover Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup (Rural), Kamrup (Metropolitan), Morigaon, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Sibsagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.
Conceptualised on the lines of the ongoing 3570-km-long Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra, which is being led by senior leader Rahul Gandhi, the march in Assam will also have several sub-yatras in places which won’t be covered by the main event.
Besides reconnecting with party workers and general public, the party aims to revive its dwindling fortunes in the state. The Congress has faced setbacks in the elections in the state at parliamentary, assembly, municipal and panchayat levels since 2014 general election and in past one year two of its MLAs have quit the party and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The BJP has, however, dubbed the Congress yatra in Assam as a flop show and stated that it won’t be able to get any traction among voters.
“It’s an irony that a party like the Congress, which followed the principle of divide and rule during all the decades they were in power in Assam and other parts of India, is undertaking Bharat Jodo Yatra. It will be a big reality check for the party on how it has lost all touch with the public,” said Rupam Goswami, BJP spokesperson.
