“Bharat Jodo Yatra is the ‘sanjeevani’ for the Congress,” Jairam Ramesh said. (File)
Thiruvananthapuram:
The Congress on Tuesday accused the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “working overtime to destabilise” the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo yatra.
The yatra will cover 3,750 km from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu to Jammu and Kashmir over a period of 150 days.
“Modi has many friends in many political parties I know. And he is working overtime to destabilise the yatra. BJP is working overtime to ensure that this yatra is not a success because our protest on 5 August on price rise was hugely successful,” AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said while interacting with the media here.
Apparently referring to the recent developments in the Congress including the resignation of Ghulam Nabi Azad from the party just a week ahead of the yatra, Mr Ramesh said, “people may come, people may go, people may issue statements, people may attack us, people may attack Mr Gandhi…it makes no difference to us and the yatra will continue.” The Congress leader alleged that those who have already left the party and those who are waiting in the departure lounge, had not said any word against Modi and RSS.
“This match-fixing is going on to destabilise the Bharat Jodo Yatra”, said Mr Ramesh.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, AICC General Secretary Tariq Anwar, Shashi Tharoor MP, KPCC chief K Sudhakaran and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala also participated in the interaction.
Mr Ramesh claimed that all those who are predicting the decline and demise of the Congress party will be disappointed.
“Bharat Jodo Yatra is the ‘sanjeevani’ for the Congress,” Mr Ramesh said.
Describing the Yatra as a “practical, concrete and specific initiative” by the party to “counter” Prime Minister Modi’s government, Mr Ramesh alleged that those Congressmen and Congresswomen, who are not participating, “have match-fixing arrangements with the BJP dispensation”.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra is against the economic, social and political policies of the Modi government, he said.
“We are hoping that this will enthuse the cadres. It will activate the party”, Mr Ramesh said.
Regarding Rahul Gandhi’s leadership role in the yatra, the Congress leader said he has taken it as a ‘Tapasya’.
The Congres have said the journey– commencing from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7– through Kerala will cover 450 km across seven districts in 19 days.
It has said the objective of the yatra, which will touch 12 states and the national capital, was to strongly oppose the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the RSS agenda for the country.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)