TUMAKURU: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held an interaction with the masses as the Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed from Mayasandra in Tumakuru on Saturday and said that the party believes in fighting against those who spread hatred.
He also highlighted the fact that the community of the person spreading hatred doesn’t matter. “My view is that it doesn’t matter who the person spreading hatred is, it doesn’t matter which community they come from, spreading hatred and violence is an anti-national act and we’ll fight against such people,” said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.
Stressing on integrity and unity in the country he said,” Our constitution states: Bharat is a union of states. It means all our languages, states and traditions have an equally important space. That is the nature of our country.”
The Congress leader also took a jibe at the opposition and said, “I have always stood for a certain idea, that disturbs the BJP and RSS. Thousands of crores of media money and energy have been spent to shape me in a way which is untruthful and wrong. That will continue as that machine is financially rich and well-oiled.”
This was his third press interaction during the march. The yatra is in its Karnataka leg and marked its 31st day today and seventh day in the state. The march began around 6.40 am, informed veteran Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
“Day 31 of #BharatJodoYatra started at around 6.4 0am. Today @RahulGandhi will be having his third press interaction so far during the Yatra at Turuvekere at 1 pm. We have entered Tumkur district now,” tweeted Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
The Congress veteran also outlined the party’s upcoming schedule during the yatra and informed that there will be polling booths during the march as over 40 PCC delegates will be travelling along. “40 PCC delegates are involved in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. For them, polling booths will be set up at the campsite itself. Rahul Gandhi and other Bharat Jodo travellers will vote in this camp,” said Jairam Ramesh in a statement.
He also informed that the Bharat Jodo Yatra will have a grand rally on October 15 and will be halted on October 17 due to party presidential polls. He also underlined that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will celebrate Diwali in the camp and the march will be on hold due to Diwali.
On October 7, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the teachers raised the issue of Kannada language and culture being “under attack”. He said that “our education system is under systematic attack from adverse ideological forces and that attack has reached now our curriculum.”
The former Congress president said that he interacted with teachers and students, who told him their concerns. “I spoke to teachers and students. The teachers said why government schools are being neglected. Why our culture, our ‘Kannada’ language is under attack? Why the glory of the history of Karnataka is being erased from textbooks Why our culture and history is being attacked and damaged?” Rahul said.
He said that the NEP 2020 had been specially designed to undo everything that has been done in the past 75 years. He continued that Communalisation and Centralisation and Commercialisation were the only agendas behind these monumental changes effected by the state and central governments.
The Wayanad MP suspected that there were many deliberate and designed efforts to destabilise the education system and subvert the Constitution through these drastic measures. The MP from Wayanad is currently leading Bharat Jodo Yatra- the 3,500-km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, covering as many as 12 states. The Yatra started from Kanyakumari and will end in Kashmir the next year by covering 25 km every day.
According to Congress, the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is being held to combat the divisive politics of the BJP-led Centre and to awaken the people of the country to the dangers of economic inequalities, social polarisation and political centralisation.
All the party MPs, leaders and workers along with Rahul Gandhi are staying in containers. Sleeping beds, toilets and ACs are also installed in some of the containers. During the journey, the temperature and environment will differ in many areas.
The Congress suffered a debacle in the assembly polls held earlier this year and the Yatra is seen as an attempt to rally the party rank and file for the upcoming electoral battles. (ANI)