By- Banibrata Datta (FTFMI)
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during the party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, in Ghaziabad on January 3, 2023.
‘People say Rahul Gandhi does not feel cold even in winter; this is because he is wearing the shield of truth,’ his sister and Congress general secretary for U.P.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday welcomed her brother Rahul Gandhi, who led his Bharat Jodo Yatra from Delhi into Uttar Pradesh, by calling him a “warrior” for standing up to the “might” of the Central government and big industrialists who have tried to “buy” him. “I am proud of my elder brother. Thousands of crores were spent by the government to tarnish his image, and all kinds of agencies were used, but he could not be stopped. Ambani- ji and Adani- ji bought leaders, but couldn’t buy my brother,” Ms. Vadra said.
Speaking at the Loni border, Ms. Vadra made a reference to the white t-shirt that Mr. Gandhi has been seen wearing right through the cold winter as the yatra traversed northern India, saying, “People say Rahul Gandhi does not feel cold even in winter; this is because he is wearing the shield of truth.”
After a nine-day hiatus, the yatra resumed from Hanuman Mandir at Kashmiri Gate in the morning and passed through the Outer Ring Road accompanied by a massive police force before entering Ghaziabad. Ms. Vadra, who led the Congress campaign in the recent State Assembly polls, asked U.P. party workers to visit the localities and streets of the State and spread message of love against hatred. “As Rahul Gandhi said, I am opening a shop of love in the market of hatred — you also open a franchise of love in each locality and street. I thank all of our party workers,” Ms. Vadra add.
The yatra was joined by Amarjit Singh Dulat, former chief of India’s external security agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), and former Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau, and Opposition leaders, including National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi. The presence of Mr. Dulat, who served as the R&AW chief during the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s prime ministership, and Mr. Abdullah, a former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister, holds significance as the yatra will end in Srinagar.
In Uttar Pradesh, after initially showing reluctance, all top opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) supermo Jayant Chaudhary, welcomed Mr. Gandhi for the U.P. leg of the yatra, but are unlikely to join him.
In U.P., the Bharat Jodo Yatra will cover a distance of 120 km before crossing over to Haryana on January 5. The yatra will pass through Sisana, Sarurpur and Barot in Baghpat on January 4, after which it will enter Shamli district’s Kandhla, Uncha village and Kairana, before entering Haryana. The route of the yatra also holds political significance as both Baghpat and Shamli have a sizeable Muslim population (roughly 30%), and the western U.P. region is considered sensitive due to communal clashes in the past. Critics have questioned the yatra’s short duration in U.P., as it touches only three districts out of 75 in the State that sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (Asli) leaders have extended support to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra saying that they will participate in the yatra when it passes through western UP, Haryana and Rajasthan in the days to come. The yatra entered Maharashtra on November 7 and will pass through UP’s Bulandshahr during its journey from Kanyakumari to Srinagar.
A delegation of the organisation led by its president Harpal Singh Bilari called on Congress leader and yatra’s chairman Digvijay Singh in Delhi on Sunday and discussed how they could support the yatra.
“After Mahatma Gandhi and JP Movement, the Bharat Jodo Yatra has turned into a public movement for protecting democratic values in the society. The yatra is seen as a ray of hope when the country is passing through political, social and economic crisis,” Bilari told HT over phone.
He said the organisation’s delegation comprising national spokesperson Prabal Pratap Shahi and youth wing state president Risabh Choudhary met Digvijay Singh in Delhi and informed him about their support to the yatra.
RLD chief Jayant Singh turns down Congress’s invite to join Bharat Jodo Yatra in UP. INC spokesperson Ashok Singh said that the party had extended invitations to prominent opposition leaders in the state to attend the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Singh has turned down Congress’s invitation to join Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ which is all set to enter Uttar Pradesh on January 3 through Loni in Ghaziabad. Sources close to the RLD said that Jayant Singh will not join the yatra in western Uttar Pradesh.
This comes hours after it was reported that the grand old party invited several Opposition leaders in Uttar Pradesh, including Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, SP MLA Shivpal Singh Yadav and others.
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Jayant Singh was also invited to take part in the Uttar Pradesh leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
However, it is noteworthy that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former UP Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma will join the yatra. Sharma was invited in his capacity as a professor of Lucknow University.
Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh said that the party has extended invitations to prominent opposition leaders in the state to attend the yatra.
“In the present times when people are not allowed to raise their views, this yatra is the only option to know people’s minds. The entire opposition has almost the same view about this government so they have been invited to participate in the yatra,” Ashok Singh said.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who had led the party’s campaign in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections earlier this year, will join the yatra in the state on all three days.
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Earlier, senior Congress leader Salman Khursheed Salman Khurshid told media that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is not of any party but of the whole country and leaders of various parties will be invited to attend it.
Ending its Rajasthan leg, the yatra entered Delhi on Saturday morning with hundreds of people from Haryana and capital city joining the march at the Badarpur border amid slogans of “Bharat jodo” (unite India) and “Rahul Gandhi zindabad”.
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Rahul Gandhi to hoist national flag at Srinagar on completing the Bharat Jodo Yatra on January 30, 2023.
In Uttar Pradesh, after initially showing reluctance, all top opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) supermo Jayant Chaudhary, welcomed Mr. Gandhi for the U.P. leg of the yatra, but are unlikely to join him.
In U.P., the Bharat Jodo Yatra will cover a distance of 120 km before crossing over to Haryana on January 5. The yatra will pass through Sisana, Sarurpur and Barot in Baghpat on January 4, after which it will enter Shamli district’s Kandhla, Uncha village and Kairana, before entering Haryana. The route of the yatra also holds political significance as both Baghpat and Shamli have a sizeable Muslim population (roughly 30%), and the western U.P. region is considered sensitive due to communal clashes in the past. Critics have questioned the yatra’s short duration in U.P., as it touches only three districts out of 75 in the State that sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.