Farmers bring four quintal flowers to greet Rahul’s yatra
NEW DELHI, JAN 6: The Rahul Gandhi-led ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ of the Congress party resumed its Hindi heartland journey on Wednesday from Baghpat in western Uttar Pradesh amidst a rousing welcome by farmers and political party workers including those from the RLD and the Samajwadi Party.
The foot march started in biting cold as scheduled at 6 AM with a fireworks display. Later farmers, who conducted a year-long protest against the controversial farm laws, welcomed the former Congress president with tractors filled with four quintal of flowers.
Addressing a public event at Baraut in Baghpat, Rahul said the purpose of the yatra is to remove fear from the people’s minds and highlight issues like price rise and unemployment.
Amid raging talks about his wearing T-shirt in the winter during the yatra, Rahul Gandhi said the media is highlighting his attire but “taking no notice of the poor farmers and labourers walking along with me in torn clothes”.
Taking potshots at the media, Rahul said, “I call them ‘mitra’ (friend) but they are not performing the duty of a friend as they do not raise the real issues out of fear of their bosses. Since the media is not highlighting the issues of people, we thought of raising matters relating to demonetisation, wrong GST, price rise, unemployment in the Parliament, but there the mike was switched off. So we thought let’s walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, listen to the people,” Rahul told at nukkad sabha.
After a brief address at the meeting, Rahul left for Delhi to see his mother and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi who was hospitalized due to viral infection. Party said he will lead the yatra towards Haryana again on Thursday morning.
The farmers who had received immense support from the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, said the Gandhi scion should walk not on the streets but on a path of flowers and so they got four quintals of flowers to the yatra. Nonetheless, the youth Congress party workers from Rahul’s traditional Lok Sabha constituency Amethi in UP, walked in the Uttar Pradesh leg of the march donning white T-shirts, an attire that has been the talk of the country both political and social.
Acharya Satyendra Das, chief priest of the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple and Champat Rai, secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, also lauded Rahul for undertaking the Bharat Jodo Yatra, saying he is walking in harsh weather and that must be appreciated. His comments came a day after Acharya Satyendra Das “blessed” Rahul for the Yatra.
“I thank the young man who is walking on foot in the country, I appreciate his move. There is nothing wrong in it. I am the worker of RSS and the RSS never condemned Bharat Jodo Yatra,” Rai said in reply to a question from reporters about the Yatra. Another senior trustee of Ram Mandir Trust Govind Dev Giri also hailed Bharat Jodo Yatra. “I pray to Lord Rama to bless him so that the nation remain united, strong and harmonious. Bharat Jodo is a good slogan and India must unite,” he said.
Rahul, Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh and the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit chief Brijlal Khabri, were also present. Local leaders and activists, including RLD district unit chief Rampal Dhama and local leaders of the Samajwadi Party, joined the yatra.
Congress had earlier claimed that RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary would also take part in the yatra. However, RLD National Secretary Anil Dubey said it was unlikely as Chaudhary was currently abroad.
Iconic Indian shooter 85 year Prakashi Tomar, who is also considered as one of oldest sharpshooters of the world, joined Rahul. Noted actor Kamya Panjabi also walked along Rahul in Baghpat area. The yatra will travel though Uttar Pradesh for two days and will enter Haryana’s Panipat by Thursday evening via Baghpat and Shamli.
Over 1,200 party workers from Amethi, the erstwhile Congress bastion which elected Rahul Gandhi to Parliament three times in a row before his defeat in 2019, joined the march at Ghaziabad’s Loni border. According to Amethi district Congress chief Pradeep Singhal, the party workers are likely to interact with Rahul Gandhi and urge him to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Amethi.
-PNS
