“Rahul’s walk should be praised,” said Champat Rai, general secretary of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust as he welcomed Rahul Gandhi-led Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.
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Speaking to the media persons in Ayodhya, Champat said, “I appreciate his move. There is nothing wrong in it. No one can be against Bharat Jodo Yatra.”
“I am a worker of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the RSS never condemned Bharat Jodo Yatra,” Rai told media persons in Ayodhya on Tuesday. He called Rahul the ‘young man who is walking on foot for the country’.
Govind Dev Giri, treasurer, also welcomed Rahul in UP and said, “Bharat Jodo Yatra was a good slogan and the country must remain united. I pray to lord Ram to bless him (Rahul Gandhi).”
A day before the yatra entered UP, Ram temple chief priest Acharya Satyendra Das wished Rahul success in the yatra, good health and long life. On Monday, Das handed over a letter to the local Congress leader of Ayodhya Gaurav Tewari extending support for the yatra.
{{/usCountry}}A day before the yatra entered UP, Ram temple chief priest Acharya Satyendra Das wished Rahul success in the yatra, good health and long life. On Monday, Das handed over a letter to the local Congress leader of Ayodhya Gaurav Tewari extending support for the yatra.
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“Whatever work you are doing for the country is for the benefit of all. My blessings are with you. Lord Ram’s blessings be with you (Rahul Gandhi),” Das wrote in the letter.
Meanwhile, senior leaders of the UP government, including deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak and finance minister Suresh Kumar Khanna on Tuesday attacked Rahul over his UP leg of BJY.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders said that Rahul has spared just three days for a big state like UP because he is aware of his party’s “poor prospects” in the state.
The yatra entered UP from New Delhi through the Loni border in Ghaziabad on Tuesday. After entering UP in the afternoon, the yatra made its first stoppage at Mawikalan village of Baghpat district on Tuesday night.
On Tuesday, the yatra was joined by former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) AS Dulat and Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi in Uttar Pradesh. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi too joined on Tuesday and will be accompanying Rahul in the UP leg of the yatra.
The yatra will cover Uttar Pradesh in three days and re-enter Haryana on January 6. It will reach Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district on January 20 and conclude in Srinagar on January 30.
From there, on January 11, the yatra will enter Punjab and travel across Himachal Pradesh on January 19 before finally entering Jammu and Kashmir.
The Rahul Gandhi-led walkathon has so far covered over 3,000 kms from Kanyakumari to Uttar Pradesh.