Some have left behind their husbands and children, others their ailing parents. Battling occasional guilt but backed by supportive families, an intrepid band of women Congress workers has taken on the physically — and sometimes emotionally — daunting challenge of walking in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

As they march alongside former Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the 3,570km Yatra, sleeping in containers and walking 20-25km a day, the women are scripting stories in empowerment and highlighting the importance of supportive family structures.

There’s Lhinkim Haokip Shingnaisui of Manipur who left behind her husband and three children; Sheeba Ramachandran from Kerala who has a teenage daughter, son and husband; and Pratibha Raghuvanshi from Madhya Pradesh, whose father is recovering from eye surgery.

They are just three among the scores of women marching on. Overcome by guilt at leaving her children, Ramachandran one day locked herself in a toilet at a roadside petrol pump, turned on the water and cried her eyes out.

Her teenaged daughter had phoned, asking how she could ask her father to buy sanitary napkins, and this had proved too much for the mother in the Congress worker to handle.

“Leaving behind my teenage daughter to embark on the Yatra was the toughest decision of my life. We were walking in Bellary when she called me, crying,” Ramachandran told PTI.

It was only after Ramachandran had pressed the teen that she came out with her anguished question.

“At that point, the mother in me felt crushed and was overcome with guilt,” the 47-year-old from Ernakulam said.

“Later, I called up her father and told him to take her out to treat her to her favourite soup and buy her sanitary napkins,” she said.

Her daughter is in Class IX and her son, in his 20s, is working.

Thanking her husband for her being able to undertake this “life-changing” journey, Ramachandran said she had never in her life asked her husband for a holiday or a gift like a sari or jewellery. Her participation in the Yatra had been her first request to him, and he had readily agreed and helped convince the children.

The women’s conviction about the need to fight hate was clear.

Over 100 days into the Yatra, they said they would do it all over again under Rahul’s leadership and added that his slogan of “Daro mat (Fear not)” kept them going, mile after mile. Shingnaisui, “Kim” to her Congress colleagues, said her eldest son had told her she must go.

“They encouraged me to undertake the Yatra. I was apprehensive about leaving them for five months but my children and husband gave me the strength,” the 48-yearold said. Kim has been an inspiration for the Yatris for the courage she showed after she tore a ligament near her right ankle while walking in the Yatra in Kerala.

“I was pushed in the crowd from behind, fell and had the injury. My senior leaders Jairam Ramesh and Digvijaya Singh took me to hospital, where the doctor wanted to put a cast but I refused,” she said.

After five days, Kim was back in the Yatra, alternating between walking and resting in the ambulance that accompanies the Yatra.

“My daughter was worried when I had the injury and wanted me to come back. But my son and my husband told me that I should complete the Yatra,” she said.

Her eldest son is doing his master’s, her daughter is a college student and the youngest son is in school.

A staunch Congress supporter, Kim had contested the Manipur Assembly polls earlier this year from the Saikul constituency against her father, the sitting MLA from the BJP. Both lost to an Independent.

“For me, the Congress is the party of inclusivity and unity. At a time when the rulers are talking only about Hindus, Muslims and Christians, this Yatra was an imperative,” she said.

Pratibha Raghuwanshi, who has been walking right from Kanyakumari, said she had been in a dilemma whether to join the Yatra as her father was still recovering after a serious eye operation.

“I am unmarried and I live with my parents while my brother works in another district and keeps visiting us. I wanted to be there for my father as my mother is not that literate, and there were eye drops to be given 12-13 times a day,” the 40-year-old said.

“I was discussing this with my friend when my mother heard us and told my father. They insisted that I undertake the Yatra. My father prepared a chart and listed the timings of the various medicines and assured me that it would be managed,” Raghuwanshi, who is from Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh, said.

She said the hate and divisions being promoted in the country had convinced her of the need to spread the message of love and unity.

“Misinformation is spread to target communities. When a home breaks down, first there is division in hearts and minds. That is what is being done in our country and must be stopped. That is why this Yatra is essential,” she said.

Ramesh, the Congress general secretary in charge of communications, has lauded the women Yatris’ spirit and determination.

“The women Bharat Yatris and women Seva Dal volunteers deserve special kudos and applause for their spirit of endurance and tenacity, covering 2,800km in 100 days. They have done it, they still have cheer, and they are looking forward to completing the Bharat Jodo Yatra and participating in future yatras of the Congress party,” Ramesh told PTI.

The women said they were determined to walk all the way to Srinagar where they would hoist the Tricolour. The Yatra, launched on September 7 in Kanyakumari, has traversed eight states — Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — and is now passing through Haryana. It’s expected to finish by the end of January.