As the Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra entered its 35th day, Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) Vice President S Supongmeren Jamir and Nagaland Pradesh Youth Congress President, Lima Lemtur on Wednesday joined Rahul Gandhi and other Congress party leaders in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district.
And in no time, the pictures of Rahul Gandhi and Jamir wearing the ethnic Ao Naga waistcoat began making rounds in social media.
Speaking to Mokokchung Times over the phone, Jamir and Lemtur said that they landed in Karnataka on Tuesday night and have joined the march from Wednesday morning in order to show support and also to assert ‘Unity in diversity’.
Jamir said that the aim of the Yatra is to unite India; to come together and to strengthen the nation and added that the Yatra is receiving “an overwhelming response.” According to them, 50,000-70,000 common people participate in the walk alongside Rahul Gandhi every single day.
The Yatra, according to Jamir, seeks to address rampant unemployment and inflation, hate and division, and corruption in the country.
The Yatra began on 7th September from Kanyakumari and will pass through 12 states, culminating in Jammu and Kashmir – spanning a distance of nearly 3,500 Km over the course of about 150 days.
“The people who started their march from Kanyakumari have already covered more than 800 km,” Jamir said, and added that the Yatra will culminate only in January.
The NPCC vice president said that they will again join Gandhi in the march on Thursday and will return to Nagaland on Friday for the scheduled National Party President election on 17 of this month.
On being asked what was discussed with Gandhi during their march, Jamir cited Gandhi as saying that Nagaland is a beloved state of the party from his grandparents’ time.
According to Jamir, Gandhi had said that the party is working to achieve something great for the country in the coming months and has assured full support to the Nagas.
Meanwhile, the Nagaland Pradesh Youth Congress President Lemtur said that he joined the Yatra because the country has been divided by the BJP on the lines of religion, caste and hatred accompanied by rising inflation and soaring prices.
Responding to whether he believes that their participation on the march would make an impact on Nagaland Congress, he said that he is hopeful that it would serve as a morale booster to congress supporters and an indication that ‘Congress is alive in Nagaland’.
“The Congress party is slowly reviving. We hope that the march will help us in getting some momentum,” Lemtur said.
Reacting to the rising participation of youths in the party, he said, “We have given the Rio Government twenty years, what change have they brought? It is time the youth wakes up. We feel like the duty of the youth is to revive the Congress with the guidance of the seniors. And yes, the response has been very much positive so far,” he said.
Former Chief Minister of Nagaland KL Chishi tweeted the picture saying, “Well done Supongmeren ji for taking part in #BharatJodoYatra with @RahulGandhi and for presenting him with the beautiful waist coat that represents the vibrant culture & traditions of Nagaland.”
Well done Supongmeren ji for taking part in #BharatJodoYatra with @RahulGandhi and for presenting him with the beautiful waist coat that represents the vibrant culture & traditions of Nagaland. pic.twitter.com/XTRcxrUpGc
— KL Chishi (@klchishi) October 12, 2022