27-12-2022 : Three former chief ministers of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, are expected to join the Congress party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in the union territory next month. The Yatra, which is being led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, is intended as a protest against what the party refers to as the “divisive politics” of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sangh Parivar. Gandhi began the Yatra on September 7 and it will culminate in Srinagar around the last week of January, 2023. The march will pass through Uttar Pradesh and Haryana before Gandhi arrives in the union territory. This will be his second visit to the region after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A in August 2019. In addition to the three former chief ministers, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader M Y Tarigami is also expected to participate in the Yatra.
The Congress party has a long history in Jammu and Kashmir and party secretary general K C Venugopal has stated that the Yatra is intended to send a “clear and loud” message to divisive forces like the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sangh Parivar. Venugopal has accused the BJP-led Union government of trying to instill fear in people about a new variant of the coronavirus in an effort to halt Gandhi’s Yatra, but has said that the party will comply with any guidelines set by the government to avoid any untoward situations.