I write this editorial from Pathankot in Punjab. Later today, our ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ will be crossing over into Jammu and Kashmir - the last and perhaps most significant state for the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. It still has not sunk in - this Yatra that started on September 07 from the oceans that embrace India is finally at the foothills of the mountains that shelter us. And yet here we are! We are on the verge of completing that which perhaps even we did not believe was possible. We have walked the land, we have listened to our people, we have connected to the spirit of India, we have embraced the spirit of unity, love and sacrifice upon which India was built. We have rejuvenated our workers, awakened our people and brought love, light and hope to a Nation that has tired of hate.

Our Yatra now enters that part of our beautiful Nation that has been most brutally scarred by the brutality of RSS-BJP rule. Jammu and Kashmir has been abused in spirit, broken physically and imprisoned by this Government. Jammu and Kashmir is the ‘Crown of India’. The manner in which the State has been treated violates not just the dignity of its people but the dignity of every Indian and destroys the spirit of accommodation, love and respect upon which our Country was built. It is our collective duty to help heal the wounds of Kashmiris. It is with this spirit of love, fraternity and healing that we will be walking in Kashmir.

And when eventually we reach Srinagar on the 30th of January, history will be made! Another glorious chapter will be added to the Congress’s history of uniting and building India.

Jai Congress. Jai Hind. Jai Jagat.