A convoy of motorcycles roared out of Gandhinagar on Sunday, 25 October 2026, bound for the Statue of Unity — carrying a message as urgent as the engine noise: 'Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life.' Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel flagged off the National Motorcycle Rally, organised by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs under the 'Fight Against Drugs' theme, as part of the build-up to Rashtriya Ekta Diwas on 31 October.

Delhi to Ekta Nagar: the rally's cross-country arc

The rally did not begin in Gujarat. Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah had flagged it off from New Delhi on 21 October, setting it on a cross-country course that passes through Gandhinagar before culminating at Ekta Nagar — the township that is home to the world's tallest statue. Sunday's ceremony in Gandhinagar was the relay's Gujarat leg, with CM Patel formally sending the convoy on its final stretch toward Statue of Unity.

Teams from multiple states, Union Territories, and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) are participating in the rally, giving the anti-drug message a pan-India character that mirrors the unity theme the event is designed to celebrate.

Why 31 October — and why Ekta Nagar

31 October is the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first Deputy Prime Minister and the statesman credited with integrating the princely states into independent India. National Unity Day — Rashtriya Ekta Diwas — was instituted in 2014 to mark that date and to champion national integration as a living ideal, not just a historical fact.

The Statue of Unity, inaugurated in 2018 at Ekta Nagar on the banks of the Narmada in Gujarat's Narmada district, stands at 182 metres — the tallest statue in the world — and has since served as the ceremonial anchor for the annual parade. Routing a national motorcycle rally to that site fuses Patel's legacy of unity with a contemporary public-health message, a combination Indian administrations have increasingly deployed around this date.

'Say No to Drugs' meets a national tribute moment

Linking an anti-drug awareness drive to a commemoration of national unity is a deliberate strategic choice: the captive audience of a high-visibility parade, the symbolism of CAPF personnel from across India riding together, and the media spotlight that Ekta Nagar commands on 31 October each year. The rally arrives at a time when drug abuse — particularly synthetic drugs and opioids — remains a pressing concern in several Indian states.

The Rashtriya Ekta Diwas Parade at Ekta Nagar will mark the formal conclusion of the rally's journey from Delhi, bringing together state police contingents and central forces in a single formation that doubles as both tribute and public-health statement.

When the motorcycles reach Ekta Nagar on 31 October, they will have traced a line from the capital to Sardar Patel's permanent monument — turning a road rally into a rolling reminder that unity and social responsibility are inseparable halves of the same national project.