The Congress on Tuesday said a people’s movement might be the most effective counter against a government that worked for a few corporate houses, divided people on religious and cultural lines, crippled democratic institutions and attacked citizens’ rights.

Rahul Gandhi, who a few days ago declared that India was witnessing “the death of democracy”, will kick off the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kanyakumari and take part in the march in most of the 12 states through which it will pass over six months before culminating in Srinagar.

The party avoided answering questions on whether Rahul will lead the yatra as Congress president.

Explaining the purpose of the yatra that will begin on September 7, the Congress said there was no other way to unite people against the three-layered national crisis — economic, political and social. “We must come together, hold hands and understand the power of unity. We must start a movement to get rid of the politics of division and hate,” the party said while launching a dedicated website and releasing the logo, tagline and booklet for the yatra.

Explaining that the straight route chosen for the 3,570km yatra was because of security and logistics concerns, party’s communications chief Jairam Ramesh said every state that didn’t fall on the route would participate in the campaign with their parallel and separate rallies. While Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan get primacy, the yatra will completely skip election-bound Gujarat and barely touch Uttar Pradesh.

“We couldn’t have chosen a zigzag route because participants will walk, not move in vehicles,” Ramesh said, not ruling out another East-to-West yatra in future.

Digvijaya Singh, who heads the committee managing the yatra, said separate Samvidhan Bachao (Save Constitution) yatras would be taken out in states and would merge with the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Participants will not stay in hotels but in containers mounted on trucks parked in open spaces.

The participants will walk from 7am to 10am before resuming the yatra at 3.30pm and stopping at 6pm every day. While the morning sessions will focus on interactions with people, mass mobilisation will be done in the evenings. Digvijaya said such a massive padyatra had never been organised in independent India, adding: “Don’t link this to elections. This is to save the country from communal frenzy and attack on constitutional rule.”

Asked about the involvement of social activists and groups opposed to the Congress, Ramesh said: “We have invited everybody. Socialists, communists, our supporters, critics and opponents. Anybody who is opposed to the RSS-BJP ideology and concerned about the socio-economic conditions is welcome to join the yatra. We are happy that our critics have realised during the past few years that only the Congress can lead the fight against this regime.”

Security personnel at Rajiv Gandhi’s memorial in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. The site was inspected by the Congress ahead of the yatra. PTI

The tagline for the yatra is: “Miley kadam, jude watan”, suggesting that the nation can be united if like-minded people walk together. The main slogan will be “nafrat chhodo, bharat jodo.”

Apart from the website www.bharatjodoyatra.in, which will give out regular updates and live screening, dedicated teams have been formed to upload messages, photos and videos on other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

The booklet, to be distributed among millions of people in all the states, says: “Economically, the rich are getting richer, the poor getting poorer. Common people are distressed by sky-rocketing inflation and unemployment. Farmers and labourers are being buried under debt. The assets of the country are being sold to crony capitalists at a huge loss. Adani is earning Rs 1,002 crore a day while a farmer gets only Rs 27 per day for his crops.”

It adds: “Over the past 7-8 years, 11 lakh crore of loans made to big businessmen have been written off. The income of a few industrialists increased by Rs 30 lakh crore in one year whereas the income of more than 8 out of 10 households has decreased. Nearly four crore people who had come out of poverty have been pushed back into it.”

Arguing that the yatra will create awareness among the people as truth doesn’t get reflected through the media, the booklet says: “Socially, today we are being divided on the basis of caste, religion, language, food, dress. Every day a new conspiracy is hatched to make one Indian fight another. There is a growing sense of insecurity. Can a society that is divided become strong?”

It adds: “Politically, today the voices of people are being suppressed and our constitutional rights are being crushed. Efforts are being made in a systematic manner to subvert our Constitution, dismantle our institutions, hollow out our democracy and destroy unity and fraternity. Elected state governments are being destabilised by money power and misuse of agencies.”

The booklet also gives details of unemployment and rising prices.