North Bengal: Congress leaders start groundwork for Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra

Party is banking on the march to revive support in the tea belt, a territory where Congress and Intuc, its trade union front, had a strong base for years

Rahul Gandhi with supporters during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district on December 2.: PTI picture

TT, Cooch Behar, Siliguri/Alipurduar, 14.01.24 : Congress leaders in north Bengal have started the groundwork to make the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra — a march by party leader Rahul Gandhi from Manipur to Mumbai — a success.

The party is also banking on the march to revive support in the north Bengal tea

belt, a territory where Congress and Intuc, its trade union front, had a strong base for years.

According to party insiders, Rahul will enter Bengal from Assam from Baxirhat, which is on the interstate border, and will move through different areas of Cooch Behar district on January 26.

“So far, we have come to know that Rahul Gandhi will reach Bengal on January 26. He will move through Cooch Behar and Alipurduar districts and will halt in Falakata. Next day, he will head for Jalpaiguri and Siliguri,” said Mani Kumar Darnal, a veteran trade union leader and Alipurduar district Congress president.

In Falakata, tents would be pitched and other arrangements would be made at the Town Club ground for his stay, said sources.

On January 27, Rahul is scheduled to reach Kawakhali, a locality in the southern outskirts of Siliguri, where he will halt at night.

“We are planning to organise a public meeting in Kawakhali. The date will be finalised in due course. The meeting is important as before Rahul Gandhi enters Bihar (from Siliguri), we want him to pass a missive to party supporters and people of this region,” said a party functionary in Siliguri.

Rahul will start the Yatra from Manipur on Sunday.

Congress leaders said that since 2014, after the Narendra Modi government came to power, it did nothing for tea workers.

“The BJP and its trade union barely did any activity for the rights of workers, unlike the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW, affiliated to Intuc),” said an Intuc leader.