As the national capital witnessed icy cold winds, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra on Tuesday resumed its second leg of the journey from the Hanuman Mandir (Marghat wale Baba) near Yamuna Bazar area on Outer Ring Road after a nine-day year-end break. Before resuming his yatra, a ceremonial 'gada' (mace) was held after he visited the Marghat Wale Baba mandir. He spent around 15-20 minutes with the priest and others who clicked photos with him. Accompanied with thousand of party workers, Rahul in his traditional White half sleeve T shirt, resumed the yatra at around 10 am.
Scores of Congress leaders and workers gathered at the Marghat Wale Baba mandir in Yamuna Bazar, from where the yatra resumed, holding flags, and banners and chanting slogan "Bharat Jodo." The marchers joined the Yatra with the singing of patriotic songs and beating of drums, as they proceeded towards Uttar Pradesh. The stretch from Marghat Wale Baba to Ghaziabad was decked with tricolour flags and balloons. A huge police force was deployed and roads were intercepted with barricades at several locations to provide the nationwide yatra with a safe passage.
Camps were set up by Congress workers and members at various points across the route towards Ghaziabad. Small cultural events were also organised at several points along the way. While many yatris were spotted wearing white T-shirts with picture of Rahul i on it, several others joined the Yatra wrapping tricolour scarf around their neck. Many citizens also gathered across the road and their terraces to catch a glimpse of the Yatra.
The city witnessed snarls in several places including Loha wala pull-Shastri park-Gandhi Nagar-Dharampur-Seelampur-SDM Court Chowk-Jaffrabad-Maujpur-Gokulapuri Chowk- Dayalpur Police station as the yatra progressed towards Uttar Pradesh with hundreds of supporters in tow. However, traffic in several parts of the city on the Ring Road was thrown out of gear. The situation was worse in central Delhi where long jams led to chaos during the peak hours. Earlier, the Congress' Delhi unit president Anil Chaudhary had inspected the routes from Hanuman Mandir near Kashmere Gate to Ghaziabad's Loni.
As the Yatra moved across central Delhi, a huge police force was deployed to ensure there is no untoward incident. Meanwhile, Delhi Traffic Police asked commuters to avoid Ring Road from ISBT towards Rajghat and vice-versa to avoid getting stuck. An officer said that the police received over a dozen calls regarding traffic jams on the Ring Road, before the jams relented somewhat by the afternoon.
"The GT road in Shahdara and Seelampur area heading towards Kashmiri Gate was jam-packed. Vehicles crawled and people honked. I had to take another route to reach Connaught Place," said a commuter who was stuck in traffic for several hours near Kashmiri Gate.
Senior Congress leader Jai Prakash Agarwal said Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra is echoing the voice of the citizens. "He's interacting and listening to the problems of the common man. So far, the Yatra has been very successful. We have received an overwhelming response," he noted.