''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 Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

(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, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

and ended with the unfurling of the

flag of India The national flag of India, Colloquialism, colloquially called the tricolour, is a horizontal rectangular tricolour flag of Saffron (color)#India saffron, India saffron, white and Variations of green#India green, India green; with the ', a 24 ...

in what was then the state of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

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 a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of which he was the President between 1991 and 1993, and the former Member of Parliament for Kanpur parliamentary constitue ...

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

Kanyakumari Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is 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 India ...

, coinciding with the birth anniversary of

Subramania Bharati C. Subramania Bharathi Birth name: C. Subramaniyan, the person's given name: Subramaniyan, father's given name: Chinnaswami. (C. Subramaniyan by the prevalent patronymic initials as prefix naming system in Tamil Nadu and it is Subramaniyan C ...

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 the leader of Sikhs from 1665 until his beheading in 1675 ...

. The Yatra visited 14 states. Other notable participants included

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

, who helped organize the rally, and

Anandiben Patel Anandiben Mafatbhai Patel (born 21 November 1941) is an Indian politician serving as the current Governor of Uttar Pradesh. She also served as Governor of Madhya Pradesh and Governor of Chhattisgarh. She has served as the first female Chief ...

. The motorcade of hundreds of vehicles was stopped at

Patnitop Patnitop is a hill station, located, between Ramban Town and Udhampur city in the Ramban 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), fro ...

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. It was founded in 1978, and its first national president w ...

, BJP youth wing national president and

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

member of Parliament

Anurag Thakur Anurag (Devanagari: अनुराग) (pronounced "Anurāg"), sometimes shorted Anu, is a common Indian first name. There are various meanings of Anurag in Sanskrit such as attachment, devotion, passion and eternal love. Notable people named Anu ...

. The rally started in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

on 12 January, travelled through

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in 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 and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, and

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

. 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, Jammu and Kashmir, India. The square was given its name by left-wing activists who were inspired by the Russian Revolution as they fought the princely state's Maharaja, Hari Singh. It has traditiona ...

, a city square in

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

, 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 Hindutva