The government will flag off a unique three-month-long motorcycle rally from Delhi in September, in which 75 bikers will travel across the country— the icy heights of the Siachen Base Camp, Kargil, Nathu La Pass, Statue of Unity, Sabarmati Ashram— as part of commemorating the ongoing Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
The bike campaign is being planned by the government in collaboration with the organisation All India Motorbike Expedition, the idea being to have 75 bikers cover India with the crew highlighting Indian heritage and culture, and disseminating the message of health and fitness.
The plan
News18 has learnt that it would be a near three-month-long expedition covering about 21,000 km over 34 states and union territories and more than 250 districts. The expedition could be flagged off from Delhi by top ministers in the second week of September.
Events will be held at 75 iconic locations in the country which the bikers will pass to be greeted by government representatives, celebrities, and members of the public.
Celebrating the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and disseminating the message of “Fitness ki Dose Aadha Ghanta Roz” (Get daily fitness dose of 30 minutes), the bikers will also focus on popularising the Fit India mobile app by mobilising youths of the country and inviting them to become a part of this motorcycle rally by riding for about 10 km within their districts or blocks.
The route
As per the tentative route so far, after being flagged off from Delhi, the bikers will go to Punjab to the Hussainiwala National Martyrs Memorial, the ancestral house of Lala Lajpat Rai, and the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial in Amritsar. From there, they will go to Ladakh to the Kargil War Memorial and the Siachen Base Camp. They head off to the Rashtrapati Niwas in Himachal Pradesh, the Rani Laxmi Bai Mahal and Jhansi fort in Madhya Pradesh, and from there to the Imambara and Dilkusha Palace in Lucknow as well as Chunar Fort in Mirzapur and the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Ganga Ghats in Varanasi.
The expedition will then go to iconic locations like the birthplace of Veer Kunwar Singh and Dr Rajendra Prasad Memorial House in Bihar, before proceeding to the Nathu La Pass at the India-China border, the India-Bhutan border, Kamakhya Temple, the gallows site of Piyoli Puhkan, and the Ita Fort in Assam, as well as the Kangla Fort in Manipur.
The expedition will also go to the India-Myanmar border, the Indian National Army (INA) Martyrs’ Memorial Complex in Manipur, India-Bangladesh border, and the Unakoti Rock Carvings in Tripura.
Other iconic locations to be covered are the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, Birsa Munda museum in Jharkhand, birthplace of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Swaraj Ashram in Odisha, Mahant Ghasidas Memorial in Chhattisgarh, Statue of Equality and Ramoji Film City in Telangana, Victoria Jubilee Museum in Andhra Pradesh, The Sacred Heart Basil Church in Puducherry, Palace Ramalinga Museum in Tamil Nadu, and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Memorial and Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Tamil Nadu, News18 has learnt.
The ISRO headquarters in Karnataka, the birthplaces of Rajguru and Lokmanya Tilak and August Kranti Maidan in Maharashtra, the lighthouse in Daman and Diu, Statue of Unity and birthplace of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as well as the Amul Plant in Gujarat will be the other stopovers of the expedition.
The bikers will also go to the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, Sabarmati Ashram, and Akshardham Temple in Gujarat, Taj-ul-Masjid in Madhya Pradesh as well as City Palace in Rajasthan.
The rally is expected to culminate in Delhi in the last week of November.
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