Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was on Friday joined by the mother and sister of slain activist Gauri Lankesh during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka as he walked with them and said he stood with her and countless others who "represent the true spirit of India".
He said the Bharat Jodo Yatra is the voice of people like Lankesh and that can never be silenced.
"Gauri stood for Truth. Gauri stood for Courage. Gauri stood for Freedom. I stand for Gauri Lankesh and countless others like her, who represent the true spirit of India. Bharat Jodo Yatra is their voice. It can never be silenced," Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter while sharing the picture of him walking with Lankesh's family members holding her mother's hand.
With the party now ready to enter another politically sensitive state of Maharashtra where the party was in a coalition government till two months ago, Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh said the "real" Rahul Gandhi is emerging out of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which completed a month on Friday,
Ramesh described the foot march as the longest-ever undertaken by anyone and said it will help the Congress strengthen itself psychologically. He also described the Congress president's election as a "side show" and the yatra as the main show. "It's a transformation of the Congress party and it shows the real Rahul Gandhi coming out. I would not say it is the new Rahul Gandhi but the real Rahul Gandhi that is being seen," Ramesh said.
"The biggest achievement is psychological. It's all in the mind. I think what the yatra has done is to show to the Congress party that we can do it. We are on the roads, on the streets, we are fighting the BJP. We are taking the battle to their camp. We are raising issues. We are not reacting. Now the BJP is reacting to us and that I think is the greatest contribution of the yatra. It's psychological rather than electoral," Ramesh said.
AICC sources said the Karnataka leg would take another month which will include a Diwali break similar to the Dussehra and preparations have begun when Rahul leads his padyatra to enter the next nigger State Maharashtra. Former Maharashtra Chief minister Ashok Chavan held a meeting of all Congress MLAs in the presence of H K Patil, the party in-charge of Maharashtra, ahead of the yatra's arrival the state.
It will enter the State from Deglur in Nanded district on November 7, and cover a distance of 383 km. The party has chalked out a detailed plan about the yatra in the state. A detailed state-level and constituency-wise plan will be shared soon. "Enthusiasm is high among party workers and leaders (about the Bharat Jodo Yatra) and all the MLAs and their constituencies have expressed their desire to take part in the march," said Chavan.