All India Congress Committee general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said the Bharat Jodo Yatra had nothing to do with the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections and was being carried out to end the politics of hate, fear and division.
Asked whether the foot march is an attempt to project Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate for the next general election, the former minister said, “The answer is a big no. This is the Congress’ Bharat Jodo yatra and the whole party is involved in it. The foot march is not meant to project an individual as Prime Minister, but to ideologically combat the RSS and BJP. The nation’s attention is drawn to Rahul Gandhi because he is the most visible, prominent and dynamic face of the yatra. This yatra is to strengthen the ideology and organisation of the Congress party and awaken the nation’s conscious.”
“During the yatra, Rahul has raised three key issues: economic inequality, social polarisation and political authoritarianism. It is unfair to say that this march is an attempt to project him as PM candidate,” said Ramesh. Over the next three days the yatra will cover Karnal, Kurukshetra and Ambala districts before entering Punjab on January 11.
“The BJP is promoting politics of hate, fear and vengeance. This ‘nafrat chodo, bharat jodo’ initiative is the best answer to it. During the elections, the Prime Minister had raised the slogan of maximum governance and minimum government, but over the last eight years they have spread maximum hate and minimum governance as people are being divided on the basis of religion,” he said, adding that the politics of hate has also affected the economy of the country.
{{/usCountry}}“The BJP is promoting politics of hate, fear and vengeance. This ‘nafrat chodo, bharat jodo’ initiative is the best answer to it. During the elections, the Prime Minister had raised the slogan of maximum governance and minimum government, but over the last eight years they have spread maximum hate and minimum governance as people are being divided on the basis of religion,” he said, adding that the politics of hate has also affected the economy of the country.
{{/usCountry}}Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “The foot march and rally are not for getting votes but to raise issues.”