New Delhi, 15 October 2011: The Second Communal Harmony Yatra from Ayodhya to Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin is reaching Delhi tomorrow morning, Sunday, 16 October, covering a distance of 490 kms by land. It is led by Ayodhya’s famous mahant Yugal Kishor Shastri who last year took out a similar yatra from Ayodhya to Sewagram in Wardha (Maharashtra) to promote harmony and brotherly relations between various communities. The purpose of the yatra is to abolish fascism, communalism and untouchability and to promote peace, unity and brotherhood.
About 20 people from various parts of the country have joined Yugal Kishor Shastri in this mass contact movement which involves conferences, street meets, and connecting especially with youth, along the route.
Organisations taking part in this yatra are Communalism Combat (Teesta Sitalvad), Vishwa Yuva Sadbhawana Parishad (Seshnath Dubey), Asha Parivar (Sandeep Pandey), Ayodhya Ki Awaj (Yugal Kishore Saran Shastri), The Milli Gazette (Zafarul-Islam Khan), Sarvdharm Sadbhav Kendra Trust (Zafar Saifullah), Confederation of Voluntary Association – Cova (Mazhar Hussain), Jamaat-e Islami Hind (Mohammad Ahmad), Rashtriya Yuva Sangathan (Kumar Prashant), Center for Study and Secularism – CSSS (Asghar Ali Engineer) and Centre for Human Rights & Social Welfare (Saroj Khan) and others.
The yatra started at Ayodhya on 11 October with a number of programmes, and went to Faizabad where too a number of programmes for mass contact were held. It reached Lucknow on 12 October, Sitapur on 13 October, Shahjahanpur on 15 October, will spend the night at Moradabad and will arrive in Delhi in the morning of 16 October.
In Delhi, it will pay tributes with other participants and people to the soul of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat.
A dialogue on communal harmony will be held at 11 am at BN Pandey Hall, Gandhi Darshan Samiti at Rajghat, in which various organizations working for communal harmony in different fields and from various perspectives will take part. Speakers at this dialogue, besides the organizers of the yatra are Lalit Kumar (Secretary, National Foundation for Communal Harmony) and Mani Mala of Gandhi Samriti & Darshan Samiti at Rajghat.
A press conference will be held at the Einstein Hall at Gandhi Samriti, Rajghat, at 3.40 pm same day (Sunday, 16 October) in which organizers of the yatra will speak and answer questions.
The concluding function and the major event in Delhi will be held at 11 am next day, Monday, 17 October at Gandhi Peace Foundation at ITO, Delhi, where important personalities and speakers from around the country will speak and interact with the people to put across the message of the yatra. Teesta Setalvad, Asghar Ali Engineer and Yugal Kishor Shastri will speak at the occasion.
