'Felt trapped & isolated': Rahul Gandhi on why he led Bharat Jodo Yatra

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said he led his political Bharat Jodo Yatra as his party was "not allowed" to operate the way they wanted and that it felt "completely trapped and isolated".
Addressing the Bharat Summit in Hyderabad, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said that "all avenues were compromised, the media and the general atmosphere".
"Some years ago, we in the Congress party felt completely trapped and isolated. This new politics, aggressive politics, where the Opposition is not talked to, but the idea is to crush the Opposition, we found that all our avenues were compromised, the media, the general atmosphere, did not allow us to operate the way we wanted, so we reached back into history, and decided to walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir," Rahul Gandhi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The Congress leader said democratic politics has changed over the past 10 years and that the tools that worked back then wouldn't anymore. He said "new type of politicians need to be constructed".
"As we all know, democratic politics has fundamentally changed across the globe, the rules that would apply a decade ago, simply don't apply anymore. When I speak to younger member of party, the tools that worked 10 years ago, simply do not work anymore. They cannot face the concentration of capital, modern media, modern social media, so in a sense, the old politician is dead, and a new type of politicians need to be constructed. That is the challenge in front of us," Rahul Gandhi said.
He further said that "we should think about education, regaining democratic space, healthcare, each one of us has a particular view about that".
Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra was a 4,000 kilometer march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, launched in September 2022. Organised by the Congress party, the yatra aimed to connect with people across India, addressing issues like unemployment, inflation, and social harmony. It marked a major political outreach effort for Rahul Gandhi.