THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday commenced the Bharat Jodo Yatra on a spiritual note by paying his respects to renowned philosopher and social reformer Sree Narayana Guru at Sivagiri Mutt here.
At Sivagiri Mutt, Gandhi met the swamis there and offered prayers to the saint reformer before commencing the fourth day of the Kerala leg of the Congress party's 3,570 kilometres and 150-day long foot march which started off from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and will conclude at Jammu and Kashmir.
Sharing pictures of his visit on Facebook, he said, "Visited the Sivagiri Mutt to offer my respects at the Samadhi of the great spiritual leader, philosopher and social reformer, Sree Narayana Guru. Sree Narayana Guru worked tirelessly for the upliftment of people and had a great influence on leaders of our freedom movement, including Mahatma Gandhi."
Jairam Ramesh, AICC general secretary in-charge Communication, also tweeted about it.
"Before padayatra began, @RahulGandhi visited the most sacred Sivagiri Mutt to pay obeisance at Samadhi of Sree Narayana Guru who empowered millions and had a great influence on Gandhi and Ambedkar. He was a social revolutionary who remains inspirational. #BharatJodoYatra," he tweeted.
The yatra, which began after 7.30 am from Navaikulam junction here, continued to witness an encouraging turn out and will enter the Kollam district of the state during the day after spending the last three days in Thiruvananthapuram district.
The first phase of the day's yatra is scheduled to halt at Chathannoor in Kollam and is expected to resume from there at 4.30 PM.
The march would halt for the day at Pallimukku junction in Kollam in the evening after which Gandhi is scheduled to hold a public meeting at nearby Madannada.
On Tuesday, after that day's yatra ended at Kallambalam junction here, Gandhi had questioned how a party which calls itself a representative of Hindus was allegedly spreading 'ashanti' in the country when the first words taught in Hinduism is 'om shanti'.
"Wherever they are going they are destroying harmony, they are attacking people, they are dividing people, abusing them," he had said.
The third day of the Kerala leg of the yatra had gone ahead amid intermittent rains and swelling public turnout, with the Congress leader saying that even blisters will not stop their journey as he and scores of yatris marched along the streets without an umbrella when it rained.
The foot march will cover 12 states and two Union territories.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which entered Kerala on September 10 evening, will traverse through the state covering 450 kilometres, touching seven districts over a period of 19 days before entering Karnataka on October 1.
Meanwhile, the Congress on Tuesday accused the apex child rights body NCPCR of being an affiliate of the RSS after it asked the Election Commission of initiating action against Rahul Gandhi for allegedly "misusing children as political tools" in the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said these are efforts to derail the Bharat Jodo Yatra, in which Rahul Gandhi is participating.
"The NCPCR started by Dr. Manmohan Singh's Government has now become a RSS affiliate nothing less (sic). Pathetic efforts to derail Bharat Jodo Yatra," Ramesh said on Twitter.
The NCPCR has asked the Election Commission to initiate necessary action and inquiry into a complaint against the Congress and Gandhi for allegedly "misusing children as political tools" in the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights said it is in receipt of a complaint wherein it has been alleged that Gandhi and the Jawahar Bal Manch are targeting children with political intentions and making them to get involved in political activities.
The NCPCR charged that this is a violation of Election Commission rules which say that only adults can be part of a political party.
"Since there is a prima-facie violation of child rights. Further, use of children as props to fulfil political agenda is child abuse which can have a severe long term impact on their mental health and is against is Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. The commission thereby requests your good offices to look into the matter and have a thorough inquiry of the events and take necessary action against the political party and its members who have been mentioned in the complaint," it said in its letter to the Election Commission.
The Congress has launched the Bharat Jodo Yatra with an aim to strengthen the party's grassroots level connection.
The yatra, which began on September 7, will cover 3,570 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir over a period of five months.