“Bharat Mata is the voice of every Indian” said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi wishing the nation Independence Day. Beginning from the experiences of his Bharat Jodo Yatra in last year, Congress leader and MP Rahul Gandhi extended his Independence Day wishes on Tuesday as the nation is celebrating its 77th anniversary of Independence.
“To hear India, my own voice – my desires – my ambitions had to fall silent. India would speak to one of her, but only if one was humble and completely silent”, said Mr. Gandhi with a four page note on X (formerly Twitter).
“Democracy and Constitution are the soul of our country”, said the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday. He was speaking at the flag hosting ceremony at the party headquarters in Delhi, skipping the Independence Day event at the iconic Red Fort.
Bharat Mata is the voice of every Indian 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/7w1l7VJaEL
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 14, 2023
It was on 7 September 2022 Mr. Gandhi started his Bharat Jodo Yatra aiming to unite India. The journey covered 12 States and 3500 kilometers in 146 days and marked an end by January 2023.
“Last year I spent a hundred and forty-five days walking across the land I call home. I started at the edge of the sea and walked through heat, dust and rain. Through forests, towns and hills, until I reached the soft snow of my beloved Kashmir”, he recounted.
With the purpose of the journey, he discussed the challenges encountered and explained what helped him to overcome them.
“Within a few days, the pain arrived. My old knee injury was back. The next morning I found myself in tears, sitting alone in a metal container. How was I ever going to walk the 3800 kilometers that lay ahead?”, he recollected the pain.
“Every time I would think about stopping, every time I considered giving up, someone would come and gift me the energy to continue”, he added.
The memories of a “lovely little girl with a beautiful letter, an old lady with some banana chips, and the man who ran up and hugged” are quite touching.
Mr. Gandhi also shares the revelation he found at the end of the journey. “My beloved Bharat Mata was not a land, it wasn”t a set of ideas. It wasn”t a particular culture, history or religion. Neither was it the caste that people had been assigned”.
“India was the voice of every single Indian, no matter how weak or strong. India was the happiness, the fear and the pain hidden deep inside all the voices!”, he added.
“On this Independence Day, we take a pledge that we will uphold the freedom of democracy and constitution for the unity and integrity of the country, for love and brotherhood, for harmony and harmony”, said Mr. Kharge at the Congress headquarters.
लोकतंत्र और संविधान हमारे देश की आत्मा है।
इस स्वतंत्रता दिवस पर हम यह प्रण लेते हैं कि हम देश की एकता और अखंडता के लिए, प्रेम और भाईचारे के लिए, सौहार्द और सद्भाव के लिए लोकतंत्र और संविधान की स्वतंत्रता कायम रखेंगे।
: स्वतंत्रता दिवस पर कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष श्री @kharge pic.twitter.com/hqyBsXlD1p
— Congress (@INCIndia) August 15, 2023