'Focus on poor with torn clothes during winter...': Rahul on t-shirt questions

Since the yatra arrived in northern India, the media and leaders from the ruling BJP have targeted Gandhi with questions his t-shirt, while people in the northern states freeze amid a winter season.

Over the past few days questions surrounding Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' have focussed more on the Congress MP's sartorial style (and ability to withstand the Delhi winter) than politics, and Wednesday proved to be no different. The Lok Sabha member hit out at reporters who continued to ask questions about him wearing a t-shirt during the marches.

Rahul Gandhi hit out at reporters on Wednesday who continued to ask questions about him wearing a t-shirt during the marches. (HT Photo) (HT_PRINT)

Gandhi pointed out that poor people who walked alongside him also did not wear warm clothes, but the media chose to only make his choice of clothing an issue.

"Questions (about) my t-shirt (are) not the real issue... the children, farmers and labourers of India... walking around without warm clothes during winter is the real issue," Gandhi said at a rally in Baraut in Uttar Pradesh, where the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' is this week.

"I walk... wearing t-shirts. Many children of poor farmers and labourers walk with me in the yatra wearing torn clothes but the media doesn't ask why children of poor farmers and labourers are walking without a sweater or jacket during winter..." Gandhi stressed.

Since the yatra arrived in northern India (after starting from Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari in September), the media and leaders from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have targeted Gandhi with questions his t-shirt, while people in the northern states freeze amid a winter season that has seen temperatures in the national capital drop as low as 2.2 degrees Celsius.

At a presser in Delhi, Gandhi lashed out, "Why are people upset by this (clothing choice)?"

Speaking at a 'nukkad sabha' (street corner meeting) in UP, Gandhi said the purpose of the yatra is to eradicate hatred and violence and draw people's attention to price rise and unemployment. The former Congress chief also hit out at the government's contentious 'Agnipath' armed forces recruitment scheme, introduced in June last year, and claimed that young men and women recruited into the military would be left unemployed in four years.

"Earlier the youth used to serve in the Army for 15 years and get a pension... but (prime minister) Narendra Modi thought to keep pension aside, train (you) for six months (to) hold the gun... stay for four years (and) then kick you out. You will be unemployed. This is the new India," the Congress leader said.

Under the Agnipath scheme, the three services of the Armed Forces recruit those between 17-and-a-half to 21 years of age for four years, of whom only 25 per cent will be retained for a 15 year tour-of-duty. The scheme triggered massive violent protests when it was launched.

"When the youth took to the streets, Modiji said that if your photo is taken (during the protest), you will not get a government job. BJP's policy is to scare youth, farmers, and labourers," Gandhi added.

After a nine-day break, the Rahul Gandhi-led 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' entered Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday via Ghaziabad's Loni border. Other stops on march to Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar include Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi.

(With ANI inputs)