By Pawan Khera and Manish Khanduri
Unimaginable! Incredible! By the time that Gaurav Pandhi, Congressman, had finished describing the evening session of yesterday’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, it seemed that he had run out of superlatives and breath.
Pandhi, who has been a valuable contributor to these pages in the past wasn’t wrong. Kilometres before they arrived at their evening’s destination of Molakalmuru, the Padyatris were struck by the number of people and their sheer passion. “Looking at these crowds” Yatri Vaibhav Walia marveled, “You can’t just manufacture or buy the energy and the excitement. It was amazing.”
Yatri Vaibhav Walia (holding the flag) was blown away by the evening crowds
The palpable sense of excitement and purpose persisted through the evening, and was capped by the massive crowds who attended the Congress party corner meeting at the end of the day. Speaking on the occasion, Rahul Gandhi commented against the attempts of the RSS/BJP to impose a single language as superior to others. It was a poignant moment when he said that “a language is not just what you speak. A language is history, culture, imagination. Nobody should be allowed to stop you from speaking your language.”
The thought behind those remarks are also one of the reasons we are walking this Yatra.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra is presently in the state of Karnataka. Over 21 days in the state, it will cover 511 kilometres.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra is a five month, 3500 kilometre long padyatra from Kanyakumari in the South of India to Kashmir up in the North. It is part of the party’s national mass outreach program aimed at highlighting social polarisation, economic inequalities and political centralisation.
Ground research: Aparna Ashwarya (INC Communications Department research team)
End of Day Travel Facts
1. Current District Name – Chitradurga
2. Chitradurga is famous for its picturesque forts.
3. According to the Mahabharatha, Chitradurga hill was the residing place of Hidimbasura.
4. Turuvanuru village, located in the Chitradurga district, has a strong association with the freedom struggle. It shot into fame as one of the centre for Mahatma Gandhi’s call for the liquor prohibition in India in 1939.
5. Chitradurga district was one of the main centres in Karnataka during the Quit India Movement, 1942
6. Chitradurga is one of the country’s driest districts. It has witnessed 59 droughts in a century, from 1901 to 2000, according to the district’s agriculture department.
7. Know for its handloom, Molakalmuru’s industry is facing a major crisis and the is on the verge of extinction as it is unable to compete with its machine -powered competitors
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