The Congress’s 835-km Bharat Jodo Yatra from Dhubri to Sadiya in Assam got under way on Tuesday against the “tide of hatred, lies and economic distress propagated” by the ruling BJP.

Congress leaders will also “use” the Yatra to know from the masses the “mistakes” the party made when in power for course correction.

A few thousand joined the rally launched from Belguri school ground after a public meeting attended by senior state leaders, including Assam PCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah, working PCC president Rana Goswami, CLP leader Debabrata Saikia, Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi and AICC general secretary in-charge of Assam Jitendra Singh, who handed over the Tricolour to Borah after flagging the rally.

The public meeting organised by the Congress at Belguri as part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra launch in Assam on Tuesday Sourced by The Telegraph

The leaders started the day by paying floral tributes before the busts of cultural icon Bhupen Hazarika and spiritual leader Swami Vivekanda in Dhubri town, about 290km from Guwahati. They then visited the Ramrai Kuthi Satra, established by the revered saint-reformer Srimanta Sankadeva, about 20km from Dhubri under Golakgunj constituency, which was won by the Congress in the 2021 Assembly polls.

Assam is among the states not touched by the main 3,570km Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from September 7. The party has now launched similar rallies in Assam and Odisha with the objective of countering the threat posed to the country by the “environment” of hate, divisiveness, inflation and unemployment.

At the massive public meeting held at Belguri, PCC president Borah said the Yatra is aimed at understanding the mind of the masses about the ruling BJP and the Congress by interacting with farmers, government employees, workers and intellectuals.

Targetting the “divisive” BJP and the AIUDF, Borah said they will know from the people about the promises made by the ruling party and also make them understand about the prevailing politics of lies and hate.

“We will also want to know the mistakes we made .... We want to unite them (people) against the politics of hate and divisiveness. We will also not have any truck with the AIUDF, which like the BJP, propagates polarisation,” Borah said. Even Jitendra Singh ruled out any electoral truck with the AIUDF.

The first day saw the Yatra cover a distance of 9km which will gradually increase to 15km. Borah will cover the entire stretch from Dhubri in lower Assam to Sadiya in Upper Assam. Everyday there will be at least one of the three party MPs and six-seven MLAs from Assam join the rally along with guest yatris.

Assam PCC media department chairperson Manjit Mahanta told The Telegraph they were “overwhelmed” by the response to the rally on the first day and were sure the participation will only grew.

“The line of yatris lasted for more than 3km. It is a very encouraging start. Thousands attended the meeting and the Yatra. The BJP is asking why we started from Dhubri? Our response is: It is easy to travel on the Brahmaputra from upstream Sadiya to downstream Dhubri,” he said.

Mahanta added: “It is always difficult to go against the tide. We are trying to go against the tide of hatred, polarisation, socio-economic distress evident from the growing inflation and unemployment. We are also testing ourselves by going against the tide to unite the people against the politics of hate and divisiveness.”

The Assam Yatra will touch 15 of the state’s 33 districts. The Yatra, likely to end in December, assumes significance for the Congress because it is an opportunity to “regroup” itself if it wants to take on the well-entrenched BJP, which won a second straight Assembly polls in 2021. The party has been in a freefall since the BJP won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.