Assam CM creating difficulties, says Congress on Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra

After three days in Assam, the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Saturday entered Arunachal Pradesh. It will resume its Assam leg on Sunday and travel through the state till January 25

Silchar: The Congress on Saturday claimed that the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, led by party leader Rahul Gandhi has been denied permission to pass through Guwahati as Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was creating difficulties for it.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (PTI Photo)

Sarma had asked the Congress to avoid entering Guwahati with the Yatra and warned of legal actions.

Addressing a press conference at Gobindapur in Lakhimpur district on Saturday, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the police maintained that the request was ‘under consideration’.

“We applied for permissions with proper routes but the government authorities are asking irrelevant questions. Their aim is to stop us anyway,” Ramesh said.

“We would like to request the Assam Government to allow us to travel through the same route used for BJP President JP Nadda during his recent visit to Guwahati,” he added.

After three days in Assam, the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Saturday entered Arunachal Pradesh. It will resume its Assam leg on Sunday and travel through the state till January 25.

On Saturday, the Congress alleged that the vehicles taking part in the Yatra in Assam were attacked and banners were torn in North Lakhimpur. No other Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states in the country created problems like the Assam government, the party said.

The party claimed that on the day when the Yatra entered Assam on January 18, a first information report (FIR) was lodged in the Jorhat district against the Yatra and its chief organiser.

Senior Congress leader from Assam and the leader of Opposition in Assam assembly, Debabrata Saikia, told HT on Saturday that they applied for the concerned permission on January 12 and January 19, respectively.

“I discussed with top cops in Assam and detailed our routes. Tomorrow I will meet them again and will tell them that we are not violating any rules,” Saikia said.

Ramesh said that last year Gandhi organised the Yatra from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and they travelled through four BJP-ruled states but the state governments did not create problems like Assam and added that the Yatra will enter Guwahati on January 23 and Gandhi will meet the youths and will interact with the local journalists there.

Assam chief minister on January 18 said that there are government medical colleges and private hospitals in Guwahati. The state government will not allow anyone to create problems for the patients and if anyone violates the rules, they will take legal action.

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Saturday said the Assam government is threatening common people and not allowing them in Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

“They are calling the women in the name of distribution of some cards and blocking them in rooms for hours, petrol pumps are not providing us fuel, local businessmen have told us that the BJP cadres have warned them not to join our Yatra,” Gogoi said.

The party shared a video on social media where some youths can be seen vandalising posters of their Yatra.

Taking to X, Congres wrote, “Last night, BJYM (BJP Yuva Morcha) orchestrated the vandalism of Youth Congress-affiliated vehicles. In response, Congress is planning to file a robust police complaint, urging swift action to apprehend the miscreants aligned with the BJP. The call for justice echoes loud and clear.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also condemned this alleged act and wrote,” In the last 10 years, BJP has attempted to trample and demolish every right and justice guaranteed by the Constitution to the people of India. Congress Party will not be cowed down by this tactic of attack and intimidation employed by the BJP Government in Assam, which is responsible for this.”

Meanehile, Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Saturday evening entered Arunachal Pradesh. Gandhi said that his late father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, gave Arunachal Pradesh its statehood in 1987 but the BJP is giving the people of the state unemployment, price rise and pressure of GST.