''Ekta Yatra'' (English: National Integration Rally) is the name of two political ''yatras'' or rallies led by the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP) in India. The first began in 1991, following the 1990 ''

Ram Rath Yatra The ''Ram Rath Yatra'' was a political and religious rally that lasted from September to October 1990. It was organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Hindu nationalist affiliates, and led by the then-president of the BJP, L. K ...

''. The second began in 2011. Each rally travelled through various

Indian states India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

and ended with the unfurling of the

flag of India The national flag of India, Colloquialism, colloquially called Tiraṅgā (the tricolour), is a horizontal rectangular tricolour flag, the colours being of India Saffron (color)#Political & religious uses, saffron, white and Variations of gree ...

in what was then the state of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

1991 Ekta Yatra

The 1991 ''Ekta'' ''Yatra'' was led by BJP President

Murli Manohar Joshi Murli Manohar Joshi (born 5 January 1934) is an Indian politician. He is one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and served as its President from 1991 to 1993. In addition to his role in the BJP, he has been a lifelong ...

and was intended to signal that BJP supported national unity and opposed separatist movements. It commenced on 11 December 1991 in

Kanyakumari Kanyakumari (Tamil; / kəɳjɑkʊmɑɾiː/; referring to Devi Kanya Kumari, officially known as Kanniyakumari, formerly known as Cape Comorin) is a town and a municipality in Kanyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, coinciding with the birth anniversary of

Subramania Bharati Subramania Bharati (Born Chinnaswami Subramaniyan; 11 December 1882 – 11 September 1921) was an Indian writer, poet, journalist, teacher, Indian independence activist, social reformer and polyglot. He was bestowed the title ''Bharati'' for hi ...

and the ‘Balidan Diwas’ of

Guru Tegh Bahadur Guru Tegh Bahadur ( Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਤੇਗ਼ ਬਹਾਦਰ (Gurmukhi); ; 1 April 1621 – 11 November 1675) was the ninth of ten gurus who founded the Sikh religion and was the leader of Sikhs from 1665 until his beheading in ...

. The Yatra visited 14 states. Other notable participants included

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

, who helped organize the rally, and

Anandiben Patel Anandiben Mafatbhai Patel (born 21 November 1941) is an Indian politician serving as the 20th and current governor of Uttar Pradesh since 2019. She also served as the 17th governor of Madhya Pradesh from 2020 to 2021 and as Governor of Chha ...

. The motorcade of hundreds of vehicles was stopped at

Patnitop Patnitop is a hill station, located, between Ramban Town and Udhampur city in the Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is in located on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (which is part of National Highway 44, formerly 1A), ...

beyond Jammu on 25 January 1992. The rally's final stop to hoist the Indian flag in Jammu and Kashmir on 26 January 1992 was considered to have minimal success, as few locals participated.

made it to Srinagar's Lal Chowk in a military aircraft to unfurl the national flag on January 26.

2011 Rashtriya Ekta Yatra

The 2011 ''Ekta Yatra'' was led by

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) (translation: Indian People's Youth Front) is the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), one of the two major political parties in India, and formerly the youth wing of the dissolved Janata Party ...

, BJP youth wing national president and

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

member of Parliament

Anurag Thakur Anurag Singh Thakur (born 24 October 1974) is an Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh. He was former Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs and Minister of ...

. The rally started in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

on 12 January, travelled through

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, and

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

. The Ekta Yatra was to end with the unfurling of the flag on 26 January in

Lal Chowk Lal Chowk () is a city square in Srinagar, in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The square was given its name by left-wing activists who were inspired by the Russian Revolution as they fought the princely stateMaharaja, Hari Si ...

, a city square in

Srinagar Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...

, Jammu and Kashmir. But this did not happen as BJP leaders were arrested and not allowed to enter Kashmir. Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley were held in detention on their arrival at Jammu airport. Central and Jammu and Kashmir state governments stopped this yatra to continue in Jammu and Kashmir.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

BJP: Can Tricolour be divisive?

Ekta Yatra is a challenge to separatists, not govt: LK Advaniarchived

Rashtriya Ekta Yatraarchived
1991 in India 1992 in India 2011 in India Bharatiya Janata Party Indian general election campaigns Bharatiya Janata Party campaigns Hindutva