New Delhi: Makkal Needhi Maiam president and veteran actor Kamal Haasan on Saturday joined Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi. Hassan said that workers of his party also joined the Yatra,
"I and @maiamofficial executives are participating in the Bharat Jodo Unity Yatra organized by dear brother @RahulGandhi to protect the pluralism of India. As an Indian citizen @ my contribution will always be to protect the people of the land. Jai Hind! #BharatJodoYatra," tweeted Haasan,
During the day Gandhi visited the memorial of BJP icon and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, along with memorials of other former prime ministers. This move will send a positive signal to the people and act as a counter to the BJP’s attempts to play politics over the pandemic, a senior AICC functionary said.
According to AICC communications in charge Jairam Ramesh, Rahul's visit to the memorials of Mahatma Gandhi and the former PMs is part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra which entered New Delhi on Saturday morning and will take a 9-day break from December 25 to January 2. The Yatra will resume from New Delhi to western Uttar Pradesh on January 3.
“The visit to the samadhi of former PM AB Vajpayee will send a positive signal to the people. It will also send a counter message to the BJP which is playing politics over the pandemic by selectively targeting Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. They should bring out science-based guidelines first and then ask us to follow them. In fact, the BJP is trying to stop the yatra as it is worried over the success of Rahul’s social movement,” AICC secretary in charge of the organization Vamshi Chand Reddy told this channel.
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“Rahul never said the yatra is political. It is a social movement that attempts to unite the country. The message of the yatra has travelled far and wide and this has worried the BJP, which is trying to stop the yatra,” Reddy said. This comes in the backdrop of the tussle between the BJP and the Congress over suspending the yatra for adhering to Covid protocols.
Earlier Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandavia wrote a letter to Rahul Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot urging them to suspend the Yatra and follow Covid protocols. Since then, various BJP leaders and Union Ministers have targeted Rahul Gandhi and his Yatra saying the Congress was trying to ignore the Covid protocols.
A miffed Congress hit back by saying that the Centre and the BJP should stop playing politics over the pandemic as public health was a very serious issue. “We would be the first ones to follow the rules. We would urge the government to frame such rules after holding consultations with the scientists and experts. The entire country would follow the rules as they had done in the past,” Congress media head Pawan Khera said.
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The Congress leader wondered why the government was only targeting the opposition party when a similar yatra was being conducted by the Rajasthan unit of the BJP and public events where large gatherings were expected were being hosted in various parts of the country.
“The Rajasthan BJP head has ignored the health minister’s suggestions and said he will continue to conduct the “Jan Akrosh Yatra” in the state. An event related to the Swami Narayan sect is being held in Ahmedabad where lakhs of devotees are expected to converge from all over the world. There is no ban on flights coming from China or other countries. So why should one target only the Congress,” he said.
