Bharat Jodo Yatra In Jammu & Kashmir

“He is wearing a jacket,” the refrain online was one of surprise as photos of

Congress leader and Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi, walking into Jammu for the finale of the pan-India 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', he has led.

It was a raincoat, the first piece of ‘protective’ gear that Gandhi has worn over his now trademark white tee shirt. On Thursday as he entered the Union Territory, from Punjab he was joined by hundreds who walked with him and hundreds more who came to greet the yatris braving the cold and rain.

As expected, once the drizzle in Jammu stopped, Rahul Gandhi finally was seen in his simple t-shirt again. The foot march or Yatra that started from Kanyakumari on September 7 would have traversed around 3,570-kilometres when it culminates in Srinagar on January 30.

According to news reports Rahul Gandhi will hoist the National Flag at Banihal on January 25, and will walk towards Srinagar via Anantnag. The yatra, which resumed from Kathua's Hatli Morh in the morning, has been given a massive security cover, reported NDTV. Personnel from both police and paramilitary forces are “ring-fencing the Gandhi scion and his co-travellers”.

He was met in Lakhanpur by veteran politician and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah. News reports cited that Rahul Gandhi “invoked his Kashmiri ancestry to strike a chord with the people” and talked about their "pain and suffering".

Farooq Abdullah hailed Rahul Gandhi and said he was the second person to travel from Kanyakumari to Kashmir on foot after the Shankaracharya. “Centuries ago Shankaracharya came here. He walked when there were no roads but jungles. He (Rahul Gandhi) is the second person who took out a yatra from the same Kanyakumari and is reaching Kashmir,” news reports quoted Abdullah, adding “the aim is to unite India. Hatred is being created in India & religions are being pitted against each other. The India of Gandhi & Ram was one where we were all one.”