India’s main opposition party begins a cross-country march ahead of a crucial national vote

Thousands of members of India’s main opposition Congress party and its supporters began a 2-month cross-country march Sunday in a bid to regain some of the popularity it has lost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist party ahead of a crucial national vote this year. The march led by Rahul Gandhi, scion of the influential Gandhi family, began from the northeastern Manipur state’s Thoubal district. The “Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra,” or “Unite India Justice March,” is scheduled to cover 6,713 kilometers (4,171 miles) in 67 days, mostly in buses but also on foot, while passing through 110 districts in 15 states, the party said in a statement.