As Rahul Gandhi walked through the Bharat Jodo Yatra, one of the biggest questions that arose was how the Congress leader could survive the brutal cold without wearing warm clothes. In response to this, Gandhi on Monday narrated the story of four children he met during the cross-country march.
“…Four children came to me. They were beggars and had no clothes on…I hugged them…They were cold and shivering. Maybe they had no food. I thought if they weren’t wearing jackets or sweaters, I shouldn’t be wearing either the same…” Gandhi said.
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He further added that he ‘learned a lot during the Yatra’. He narrated another story of a girl who gave him a note to read that she spoke of her “sore” kees.
“I learned a lot. One day, I was in a lot of pain. I thought I would have to walk 6 or 7 more hours and it would be difficult. But a girl came running up to me and said that she had written something for me. She hugged me and ran away. I started to read it,” said Gandhi.
She wrote: “I can see your knee hurts because when you put pressure on that leg, it shows in your face.” I cannot walk with you but I am walking with you from my heart because I know that you are walking for me and my future. Right at that moment, my pain vanished,” she added.
Gandhi’s remarks came as he was addressing the final performance of the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar, marking the end of the yatra.
Srinagar had received heavy rain and snowfall on Sunday night and photographs from this morning showed the Gandhi brothers playing in the snow at the Congress party headquarters.
During the yatra, Gandhi and others traversed a dozen states and two union territories in nearly five months after it was launched on September 7, 2022 in Kanyakumari. Gandhi addressed 12 public meetings, more than 100 corner meetings, 13 press conferences. He had over 275 planned walk interactions and over 100 planned sit interactions.