Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said "Bharat Mata" is the voice of every single Indian, no matter how weak or strong. In his message on Independence Day, he talked about his 145-day Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and shared his experience on how the people during his journey touched him all along. "The object of my love had suddenly revealed herself. My beloved Bharat Mata was not a land. It wasn't a set of ideas. It wasn't a particular culture, history or religion. Neither was it the caste that people had been assigned

"India was the voice of every single Indian, no matter how weak or strong. India was the happiness, the fear and the pain hidden deep inside all the voices," Rahul Gandhi said

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge skipped the Independence Day function at the Red Fort from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation. A chair reserved for Kharge, who is also the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, was seen empty during the Independence Day function at the Red Fort. He, however, unfurled the national flag at his residence and later at the Congress headquarters where the Independence Day function was also attended by Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders

Meanwhile, Sharing his experience all along the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi said, "how simple it had turned out to be. I had been looking in the river for that which could only be found in the sea"

Mallikarjun Kharge pledged to uphold democracy and the Constitution which he alleged were in danger. On Independence Day, he saluted the sacrifices of innumerable Indians who gave up their lives during the freedom struggle, and said they not only made contribution to the national movement but also laid a strong foundation of India