As his Bharat Jodo Yatra reached Delhi on Saturday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the ruling BJP of using communal hatred as a weapon to divert the attention of people from real issues. The Wayanad MP addressed a big rally outside the Red Fort where he claimed that China has “illegally occupied 2,000 square km of Indian land”.
“There is a contest going on between China and India… China has acquired 2,000 square km of Indian land…PM says nobody has come…then why are we holding talks with them,” he said.
Gandhi said he did not witness violence or hatred anywhere in the country while walking hundreds of kilometers from Kanyakumari to Delhi and called his foot march a “true reflection of India”. “Even dogs, cows, buffaloes, and pigs entered the Yatra, but no one attacked them. There is no hatred or violence during the Yatra. If anyone fell, people picked them up in a second. This is real India,” he said.
The former Congress chief alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP spent thousands of crores of rupees to destroy his image, but he has shown the truth to the country in just a month.
Hitting out at the BJP further, Gandhi alleged “hatred in the name of Hindu-Muslim is being spread through television 24×7 to divert the attention of people from the real issues”. “TV channels are spreading hatred and doing Hindu-Muslim, Hindu-Muslim all the time, 24 hours. But, this is not true as this is spread in the media. This country is one and everyone loves each other and embraces each other, there is no hatred,” he told a big gathering at the Red Fort.
He said the Bharat Jodo Yatra aims at uniting India and will spread awareness against price rise, unemployment, communal hatred, and violence.
Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Sonia Gandhi were also present during his speech outside the Red Fort.
The yatra will disseminate for a nine-day winter break and restart on January 3 for its onward journey to Jammu and Kashmir, after passing through Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab.
Snapping back at Rahul Gandhi, the BJP took a pot shot at him and said he could not even unite his party and talk about uniting the nation.
“Rahul Gandhi reached Delhi during his Bharat Jodo Yatra. He said I have brought message of love but people who are from ‘tukde tukde’ gang are also walking with him. Sardar Patel was the one who really united India. Have you ever even taken his name? Only because 370 has been abolished now, you talk about visiting Kashmir. You could not even unite your party…. You talk about uniting the nation. You will again loose in 2024… Rahul your own thinking is of dividing the nation,” said BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.
“Rahul Gandhi spoke about ‘Make In India’. Today, India is the second largest manufacturer of mobile phones after China. Rahul Gandhi should know that Samsung and Apple phones are being made in India now,” he added.
Lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for his remarks on Tawang clash, Prasad was qouted as saying by news agency ANI, “Rahul Gandhi questioned Indian Army again today. He is asking when will the land be returned? But when was the land taken? Video shows Army giving befitting response in Tawang and he says Army ‘pitti hain’. It is his party’s strategy to make hateful remarks about Army.”
(with PTI inputs)
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