Congress leader Rahul Gandhi kicked off the third day of his ambitious nationwide 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from Mulagumoodu in Kanyakumari on Saturday morning. He faced criticism from the BJP for meeting the controversial Tamil pastor George Ponnaiah. A video clip of the meeting has gone viral in which Gandhi is hears asking, 'Jesus Christ is a form of God, is that right?' To which, Ponnaiah responds: 'He is the only God.' Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, meanwhile, dismissed the criticism as "Typical BJP mischief".
Gandhi on Friday said that his Bharat Jodo Yatra was an attempt to “connect with people” and to “undo the damage caused by the BJP and RSS”. Asked about the upcoming polls to elect the Congress’ next President, Gandhi said that he had made up his mind and his decision would be clear once the elections take place. “It’ll be clear whether I become Congress president or not when the election takes place. Please wait till that time,” he told reporters.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi kicked off the third day of his nationwide wide Bharat Jodo Yatra in Tamil Nadu’s Nagercoil on Friday. Here’s what happened:
Hashtag politics: The BJP’s official social media handle put out an image of the Congress leader alongside a T-shirt similar to what he was wearing with a price tag that said INR 41,257, and a caption that read, “Bharat, Dekho”. In response, Saral Patel, the Congress’s national social media convener, said the BJP was “rattled by the public’s response” to the yatra and was “trying everything to divert people’s attention from it”.
Who is the Congress’ next President? Breaking his silence on the coming Congress presidential election and reports that he is not keen to contest, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday said he does not see any “contradiction” between not heading the Congress party and yet leading – or “participating” in his words — the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He said he has clearly decided what he is going to do and asserted “there is no confusion in my mind at all”.
Congress on wheels: About 60 truck-mounted container vans turn into air conditioned bedrooms for the Yatris everyday. The containers are parked in colour-coded zones, depending on the number of beds they have. Apart from ones the 120-odd partymen walking alongside Rahul, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, are staying in, there is a container turned into a mini-conference hall. We take you inside these containers.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharti on Sunday responded to Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath's invite to join Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' by stating she was not used to such "jokes". Nath had made the comment on Saturday after Bharti a day earlier had said the decision of Gandhi to undertake a nationwide march was a delayed one and would not help him or the party.
"I read in a newspaper that Kamal Nathji has invited me to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra. I find it funny. I am not used to such jokes," she said in a series of tweets in which she referred to Nath as an elder brother. She went on to say the Congress had no right to undertake such a march as it was responsible for Partition and was also involved in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
In one of her tweets, she called the anti-Sikh riots post the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi as the biggest mob lynching in the history of India. (PTI)
By an instructive coincidence, Rahul Gandhi’s audacious Bharat Jodo Yatra saw him visit the Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari at the start of his five-month-long mass-contact walk to Kashmir covering 3,500 km. This writer wholeheartedly supports the yatra because India needs a revitalised Congress, and Rahul is a much-misunderstood leader with a good heart. We do not know whether his colleagues briefed him about the history of this memorial. If they did, he would have realised why large numbers of Hindus admire the RSS for its patriotism and hence reject his party’s relentless and outright condemnation of it as a fascist organisation. He would have also come to know that on several occasions in the past, the Congress and RSS collaborated in the national interest.
Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) was a towering spiritual leader who awakened national consciousness among Indians after the British had crushed the 1857 war of independence. Few have paid a more glowing tribute to him than Jawaharlal Nehru, who writes in The Discovery of India: “Rooted in the past and full of pride in India’s heritage, Vivekananda was yet modern in his approach to life’s problems. [He had] a dynamic and fiery energy to push India forward.” (Read more)
The Congress on Sunday said the Bharat Jodo Yatra was not only aimed against the alleged divisive politics of the BJP, but to revive the entire party organisation from the block to the state-level in the country.
AICC General Secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said the yatra is a "listening yatra" where concerns of the people from all walks of life would be heard by Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi as he walks 3,570 km from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu to Jammu and Kashmir. He also hit back at the comments circulating in social media regarding Gandhi's attire, saying "these are cheap, childish and stupid tactics of a party which is rattled and worried by the yatra".
"Their objective is to derail us. We will not be cowed down. We will not be diverted," Rajya Sabha MP and senior Congress leader Ramesh said while speaking at a press conference here after the first stage of the day's yatra got over. The second stage would commence at 4 PM from Neyyattinkara here. "This is a new and aggressive Congress which is connecting with the people," he added. (PTI)
Environmentalist Sridhar Radhakrishnan walked with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra walk on Sunday in Kerala. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh in a tweet said, "The Yatris walked 14 kms in the morning session of 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from Parassala Junction to Dr. GR Public School. The environmentalist Sridhar Radhakrishnan walked with Rahul Gandhi. The padayatra witnessed many memorable moments. More interactions are planned during the break."
Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra commenced its 19-day long Kerala leg Sunday morning from Parassala area of the capital city.
Rahul Gandhi started the yatra after being formally welcomed by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president and MP K Sudhakaran, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state assembly V D Satheesan, and AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar and other senior Congress leaders.
The other senior party leaders who welcomed the former party chief included Congress MPs K C Venugopal and Shashi Tharoor as well as former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy and ex-LoP Ramesh Chennithala.
A huge crowd of supporters and onlookers gathered to welcome the Gandhi scion.
"Our Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kerala. The diversity of India is so apparent. Yesterday we entered Malayalam speaking Kerala from Tamil speaking Tamil Nadu. From “Vannakam” to “Namaskaram”. #BharatJodoYatra #TodoNahinJodo @INCIndia @Jairam_Ramesh @RahulGandhi," senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, the national coordinator of the yatra, tweeted.
"Gain freedom through education, gain strength through organization, gain prosperity through industry. Today, as we enter the beautiful state of Kerala, on the auspicious occasion of Sree Narayana Guru Jayanti, his words inspire every step we take on the #BharatJodoYatra," Gandhi had tweeted as the yatra entered Kerala Saturday evening.
After entering Kerala from Parasala close to the Tamil Nadu border, Gandhi would travel 450 km to Nilambur in Malappuram over a 19-day period.
The yatra will enter Kollam district on September 14.
It will reach Alappuzha on September 17 and pass through Ernakulam district on September 21 and 22 and reach Thrissur on September 23
The Congress yatra will pass through Palakkad on September 26 and 27 and enter Malappuram on September 28.
The yatra will cover 12 states and two Union territories, and a distance of 3,750 km from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu to Jammu and Kashmir over a period of 150 days.
There will be mega rallies in 22 major cities. PTI
Watch yatra enter Kerala.
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As we bid adieu to the land of Thiruvalluvar & Kamaraj, I thank the people of Tamil Nadu for the immense love & support you have given to #BharatJodoYatra , Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
While entering Kerala, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi remembered Sree Narayana Guru and tweeted: "Gain freedom through education, gain strength through organization, gain prosperity through industry." Today, as we enter the beautiful state of Kerala, on the auspicious occasion of Sree Narayana Guru Jayanti, his words inspire every step we take on the.
NCP leader P C Chacko on Saturday said the Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' will not produce any results in the Indian political scene and the party has embarked on the cross-country march only to prove that it is "not dead".
Chacko asserted that NCP chief Sharad Pawar is the only person who can unite opposition parties. This was evident as 21 political parties had proposed his name as a candidate for the presidential election, he said.
Chacko's remarks come at a time when the NCP has given a call for Opposition unity to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking at the extended working committee meeting of the NCP, Chacko said the Congress has embarked on the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' to revive its fortunes after losing two successive Lok Sabha elections and a series of assembly polls.
"The Bharat Jodo Yatra is not going to produce any results in the Indian political scene. What we need is a united Opposition," Chacko told PTI when contacted for clarification on his remarks at the NCP meeting.
"The exercise the Congress is indulging in in the name of Bharat Jodo is only to show that it is not dead... that it is still alive," the former Lok Sabha member said.
Chacko said the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be the last chance for the Opposition to save democracy.
"If we miss the last bus, we cannot think of democracy surviving in India," said Chacko, who was once a close aide of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and quit the party last year. PTI
Rahul Gandhi obliged to a selfie request by a father with his child during Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Taking a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, Union Home Minister Amit Shah Saturday said the former Congress president should study the country’s history first.
Addressing BJP booth-level workers in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur, Shah said, “I want to remind Rahul baba and Congressmen about his speech in Parliament. Rahul baba had said India is not a nation at all. Rahul baba, in which book did you read this? This is the nation for which lakhs and lakhs of people sacrificed their lives…” Read more
The Congress on Saturday hit out at the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) for its ‘mischievous’ post on a Christian pastor’s conversation with former party president Rahul Gandhi, who is on his 3,570-km Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Jairam Ramesh, Congress’ General Secretary in-charge of communications, tweeted, “An atrocious tweet from the BJP hate factory is doing the rounds. It bears no relation whatsoever to what is recorded in the audio. This is typical BJP mischief that has become more desperate after the successful launch of #BharatJodoYatra which is evoking such a huge response. (sic)”. Read more.
After the BJP slammed Rahul Gandhi for meeting controversial Tamil pastor George Ponnaiah, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that this was "typical BJP mischief". "It bears no relation whatsoever to what is recorded in the audio. This is typical BJP mischief that has become more desperate after the successful launch of Bharat Jodo Yatra," he said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday met the controversial Tamil pastor George Ponnaiah. A video clip of the meeting has gone viral in which Gandhi is hears asking, 'Jesus Christ is a form of God, is that right?' To which, Ponnaiah responds: 'He is the only God.'
Slamming the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra, BJP's Shehzad Poonawalla said: "It's Rahul Gandhi's Nafrat Jodo Abhiyan. Today they've made a person like George Ponnaiah the poster boy of Bharat Jodo Yatra who challenged, threatened Hindus & said inappropriate things about Bharat Mata. Congress has a long history of being anti-Hindu."
Rustling up support
As Rahul Gandhi began the second day of his Bharat Jodo Yatra, he was joined by the team behind ‘Village Cooking Channel’, a popular YouTube channel that has around 1.79 crore subscribers. Rahul had tried his hand at cooking with these YouTubers during a trip to Tamil Nadu in January 2021. On the menu was mushroom biryani and onion-curd salad, with Gandhi lending a hand in the preparation before sitting down to eat.
Man of many tongues
The polyglot in Jairam Ramesh was on full display Friday. Ahead of a press conference addressed by Rahul Gandhi, Ramesh spoke to the restive press corps, who were hustling to find seats and camera positions, in English, Hindi, Tamil and Kannada. One person, one question, he told the gathered reporters before smiling and referring to the Congress’s one-person-one-post rule. Read more.
A prime minister at the helm with a resounding mandate, the flagging political fortunes of their parties, and a massive public outreach starting from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and spanning thousands of kilometres. There are several parallels between Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Bharat Yatra in 1983 that Chandra Shekhar, not yet a PM, undertook almost four decades earlier against Rahul’s grandmother and then PM Indira Gandhi.
Chandra Shekhar already had a reputation by then as one of the ‘Young Turks’ who had tried to take on Indira Gandhi when in the Congress. At the time he set off on his yatra, Indira Gandhi was at the peak of her popularity, having managed to successfully dump out of power the Janata Party, a rag-tag group of Opposition parties that had ended the Congress’s uninterrupted run of power at the Centre in the 1977 elections. The Janata Party was in a shambles and riddled with factional feuds, and Chandra Shekhar was a part of it. Read more.