Rahul Gandhi attends prayer meeting at Rajiv Gandhi Memorial in Sriperumbudur

|HT|

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday morning attended a prayer meeting at the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial in Sriperumbudur where the former prime minister was assassinated in a suicide bomb blast while campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls in 1991. The Lok Sabha member from Wayanad paid floral tribute to his father and sat in front of the memorial for about 25 minutes. Several Congress leaders including D K Shivakumar accompanied him.

Gandhi shared a picture of him paying tribute to the former prime minister and said he lost his father “to the politics of hate and division”.

“I will not lose my beloved country to it too,” he wrote.

“Love will conquer hate. Hope will defeat fear. Together, we will overcome.”

Gandhi will proceed to Kanyakumari and address a rally while officially kickstarting the nationwide Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said it is a day for “quiet reflection and renewed resolve”, calling it a turning point in Indian politics.

“September 7 2022. A day when India's oldest political party will launch the longest padyatra ever undertaken. It is a sombre day, a day for quiet reflection and renewed resolve. This is a turning point in Indian politics. It marks a new beginning,” Jairam Ramesh, party general secretary in charge of communications, tweeted.

Congress spokesperson Pawav Khera wrote, “Today the mind is overwhelmed. I have the privilege of being a small part of an important chapter of history. Let's add India together.”

Gandhi will not stay in any hotel and take shelter in containers installed with sleeping beds, toilet and AC.

"About 60 such containers have been prepared and sent to Kanyakumari where a village has been set up in which all these containers have been placed. The container will be parked in a new place every day in the shape of a village for night rest. Full-time Yatris who stay with Rahul Gandhi will eat together and stay close," Congress sources said.

Ahead of the nationwide yatra, Priyanka Gandhi Vadhra, the Congress party's general secretary, asserted that people will be united on issues like inflation, and unemployment among other matters of public importance.

"We are starting a positive politics. We want to hear from you, we want to solve your problems. We want to unite our beloved country. Let's unite India together," Priyanka said in a Facebook video.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)