Nuh (Haryana): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the government is coming up with "excuses" to stop the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', days after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya wrote to him to consider suspending the march if Covid protocols could not be followed. The yatra, which started in Kanyakumari on September 7, has covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
"This yatra will go to Kashmir. Now, they have come out with a new idea. They wrote me a letter that Covid was spreading, stop the yatra," Gandhi said while addressing a gathering in Ghasera village in Haryana's Nuh district. The Bharat Jodo Yatra led by him entered the state through Nuh on Wednesday after its Rajasthan leg.
"Now, they are coming up with excuses to stop the yatra. Wear masks, stop the yatra, Covid is spreading, these are all excuses," he said. Targeting the BJP, which is in power at the Centre and in Haryana, Gandhi said it is scared of the truth. "Hindustan ki shakti say, Hindustan ki Sachai say, yeh log dar gaye hai, yeh sachai hai (they have got scared of power and truth of the country. This is the truth)," the former Congress chief said.
Gandhi also said that "we do not want RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi's hate filled India". The Bharat Jodo Yatra has been going on for more than 100 days and in this people from all faiths, including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, men, women, and children have taken part, he said.
In this, lakhs have taken part, but no one even asked anyone what their religion was, what language they spoke or from which place they came from. In this yatra, for 24 hours, people respected each other and hugged each other and spread love, Gandhi said. Meanwhile, Congress senior party leader Salman Khurshid said," the party will follow all COVID-related guidelines, but the Bharat Jodo Yatra will not be stopped".
His statement came after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday wrote a letter to Rahul Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot asking them to consider suspending the march if COVID-19 protocols could not be followed. "The Congress will follow all the precautions related to the prevention of Covid, but the yatra will not stop, will not stop, will not stop," Kurshid, the yatra's coordination committee chairman in Uttar Pradesh, told reporters here. He was answering a question on whether the letter will affect the march.
In a democratic system, every party and individual has the right to speak their mind, the former union minister said. "The government is scared of this Congress yatra, that is why various orders and letters are being issued," he said. He informed that Rahul Gandhi-led yatra will enter Uttar Pradesh from Ghaziabad's Loni area on January 3. "After that, it will enter Haryana via Baghpat and Shamli," he added. (PTI)
