Bharat Jodo Yatra in Delhi tomorrow: Congress asks party workers to wear face masks, says report

Ahead of Bharat Jodo Yatra tomorrow, Delhi Congress instructed its party workers and leaders who will be participating in the rally to come wearing face masks, reported ANI on Friday.

Union Health Ministry asked Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders to adhere to Covid protocol amid pandemic scare after a global surge in Covid cases.

"This is BJP's politics to defame Bharat Jodo Yatra. If there's a protocol on a scientific basis or the views of experts,then Bharat Jodo Yatra will definitely follow it," said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh earlier on Friday.

At a press conference in Pakhal village near Faridabad, Ramesh said, ''This whole Covid drama over the last two days has been orchestrated to defame and derail the Bharat Jodo Yatra from coming to Delhi. That's the only objective''.

He was asked if the government was selectively picking on the yatra after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya wrote to Gandhi to consider suspending the march if Covid protocols could not be followed.

''Any protocol based on scientific and medical advice that is uniformly implemented will be followed by the Congress party. We have always followed it,'' he said.

In a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, ''We were not the party which gave solution that the Covid situation (after its outbreak in 2020) will be won in 18 days, like the Mahabharata war''. ''There was one gentleman who said that we will win the Covid war in 18 days, there was on gentleman who advised Indians to deal with the pandemic by going to their balconies and bang 'thalis'. These were the remedies given for Covid, if you recall,'' the senior Congress leader said.

Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan, family members of freedom fighters and top Congress leaders are expected to join Rahul Gandhi in the Delhi leg of his Bharat Jodo Yatra on Saturday, party sources said.

Delhi Congress president Anil Chaudhary said at least 40,000 to 50,000 yatris are expected to participate in the yatra in the national capital.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra is currently in Haryana.

''Senior Congress leaders and parliamentarians, families of freedom fighters and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MKM) president Kamal Haasan are likely to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra in the national capital,'' a party source told PTI on Friday.

Addressing the MKM office-bearers last week, Haasan had said he has been invited by Rahul Gandhi and that, he would participate in the Bharat Jodo Yatra on December 24 in the national capital.

''People from different fields will be joining the yatra that will enter Badarpur border at 6 am. We will then walk towards Ashram via Apollo hospital and thereafter, the yatris will have a lunch break and will rest for a while. We will resume our yatra at 1 pm from Ashram,'' Chaudhary said.

After the lunch break, the yatra will resume and head towards Nizamuddin and then to the India Gate Circle–ITO–Delhi Cantt-Darya Ganj and before heading towards the Red Fort. Thereafter, Rahul Gandhi and some of the yatris will visit Rajghat, Veerbhumi and Shantivan by car and pay floral tributes.

After a short break beginning Saturday night, the yatra will resume from January 3 from Uttar Pradesh, then again head to Haryana in the second phase and then to Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

The yatra, which was launched on September 7 in Kanyakumari, has covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. It completed 100 days on December 16.
 

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