SOURCE: TIMES NOW
Umesh Jhadav Gopinath had gained great appreciation in the past when he had paid a unique tribute to the martyrs of the dastardly Pulwama terror attack. The attack in Srinagar had killed 40 Indian soldiers of the CRPF. He had the collected soil from then home towns of all 40 Pulwama martyrs and had presented the same at the memorial in Leh.
Umesh is now on a new mission. This time embarking on a journey to collect soil from birthplace/place of cremation of martyrs from across India and hand it over at the memorial in J&K. As he passed through Karnataka & reached Bengaluru, we caught up with him to learn more about this epic road trip of his.
“Instead of paying my respects just on Social media I wanted to do something different, my motto has been Janmabhoomi Karmabhoomi, I wanted to take soil from the Janmabhoomi of the Martyrs & take it to the memorial in Kashmir which is the Karmabhoomi, the plan is to make an India map with the soil collected,” Umesh Jhadav said.
What makes this journey unique is the fact that Umesh has been driving solo in his car that has been given a “Patriotic” makeover. He has covered over 20 states already & traversed through 67,000 kms paying tributes to the families of Martyrs across the country.
His car is attached to another carriage in which he carries pictures and the soil he collects from the places he visits.
“I started this journey with Rs 2,000, people across the country have supported me, including mechanics who helped repair my car, many who gave me food and fuel, my car has been modified in a way that it’s a tribute on wheels to our soldiers, I started this journey on the 9th of April last year, I had to take a break during the lockdown and now it continues,” Umesh added.
The Deputy CM of Karnataka Aswath Narayan met and wished him luck as now sets off to complete this journey. His patriotic road trip has indeed been an inspiration to many across the nation.
