“It was as if all of India was walking with us,” says Bharat Jodo Yatri Vijay Shastri from Jammu.

Indeed! As the yatris commenced their evening walk from Kalale Gate to Thandavapura just about 11 kilometres away it seemed to us that there was hardly a square foot of standing space available. From end to end we estimate that the yatra was more than three kilometres long! Thousand upon tens of thousands of people on a charged up, festive and celebratory environment made it a memorable experience.

Earlier in the afternoon there was a press meet presided over by PCC Chief DK Shivakumar, ex-CM and CLP Siddaramaiah, national Chairman of media and publicity department Pawan Khera, and two time MLA Priyank Kharge.

In a powerful attack on the hypocrisy of the BJP/ RSS combine, ex Chief Minister Siddaramaiah queried their role in the freedom struggle. “It is the Congress party that united India, brought more than 600 states together” he said “Did anyone from RSS participate? Mention one name…” He went on to add, “Hegdewar was the founder of the RSS, did he participate in India’s struggle for independence? After him Golwalkar was long serving president. Did he participate? Did anyone (from the RSS) die in the freedoms struggle? And these people (want to) teach a lesson to the Congress?”

Also in the afternoon, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met with young artists and writers for an exchange of ideas, and to understand their opinions, ideas and aspirations in building a better, more progressive nation.

The Yatris arrived in the evening at Thandavapura and proceeded from there to their overnight rest near MIT Tandavapura, Mysuru.

At a corner meeting at the end of the day Gandhi told the massive audience gathered that the “Goal of the Bharat Jodo Yatra was to unite India. But it was also to raise the issues of unemployment and rising prices,”

The Bharat Jodo Yatra is presently in the state of Karnataka. Over the next 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 Srinagar in the North. It is part of the party’s national mass outreach program aimed at highlighting social polarisation, economic inequalities and political centralisation.

End of Day Travel Facts:

1. Route traveled/ major settlements: Tondavadi Gate – Kalale Gate- Thandavapura
2. Current Districts Name – Chamrajarnagar, Mysore
3. Gandhi ji visited Mysore twice, in 1927 and 1934. His objective was to gather support for the freedom struggle.
4. After Gandhi ji’s assassination in 1948, Sardar Patel himself laid the foundation stone of the memorial of Mahatama Gandhi at Gandhi Square in Mysuru on 24 February 1949.