Bharat Jodo Yatra Day 5: Congress leaders enter Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: With Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra-led by party MP Rahul Gandhi entering its fifth day, the march arrived in its Kerala leg on Sunday.

The Congress leaders reached Parassala, a small town located near the border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The 3,500-km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir will be completed in 150 days and cover as many as 12 states.

From Kerala, the Yatra will traverse through the state for the next 18 days, reaching Karnataka on September 30. It will be in Karnataka for 21 days before moving north. The Padyatra (march) will cover a distance of 25 km every day.

According to Congress, the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is being held to combat the divisive politics of the BJP-led Centre and to awaken the people of the country to the dangers of economic inequalities, social polarisation and political centralisation.

The Yatra includes Padayatras, rallies, and public meetings which will be attended by the senior Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Notably, all the party MPs, leaders and workers along with Rahul Gandhi are staying. Sleeping beds, toilets and AC are also installed in some of the containers. During the journey, the temperature and environment will differ in many areas. The arrangements have been made keeping in view the intense heat and humidity with the change of places.

The Congress suffered a debacle in the assembly polls held earlier this year and the Yatra is seen as an attempt to rally the party rank and file for the upcoming electoral battles.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi came under sharp attack from the BJP over a video of his “conversation” with controversial catholic priest George Ponnaiah on Friday during a break in Bharat Jodo Yatra with the party leaders asking if it is ‘Bharat Jodo with Bharat Todo icons’.Congress hit back and accused BJP of “mischievous lies”.

A video clip of Rahul Gandhi’s interaction with the Tamil Nadu pastor went viral, in which Rahul Gandhi can be heard asking, “Jesus Christ is a form of God? Is that right?” to which the Tamil Nadu priest George Ponniah replied, “He is the real God.” Ponniah goes on to say, “God reveals him(self) as a man, a real person…not like Shakti…so we see a human person.” Ponniah has a history of delivering provocative statements that have landed him in trouble in the past. He was arrested last year in July in Kallikudi, Madurai for allegedly making a ‘hate speech’ against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, DMK Minister and others.

Rahul Gandhi met him at the Muttidichan Parai Church, Puliyoorkurichy where he camped for a morning break on Friday.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla attacked Rahul Gandhi, “George Ponnaiah who met Rahul Gandhi says Jesus is the only God unlike Shakti (& other Hindu Gods)” He further said, “Earlier he was arrested for his bigotry remark, when he said, “I wear shoes because impurities of Bharat Mata should not contaminate us.” Soon after the video of Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with controversial Tamil pastor George Ponnaiah went viral, Congress hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging that the ruling party at the Centre has been spreading lies.

“It is a completely bogus video. What was said in the conversation has nothing to do with the tweet. We have issued the full text of what was said. It is typical mischievous lies being spread by the BJP to damage the spirit of Bharat Jodo Yatra,” party leader Jairam Ramesh said.He accused BJP of dividing the country.

“We are trying to unite people and to bring people together because India is being broken because of economic inequality, social polarisation and political centralisation. The BJP divides and Congress unites. BJP believes in uniformity while congress unity. BJP rejects India’s diversity but Congress celebrates India’s diversity.” “We are determined that this Bharat Jodo Yarta will be a huge success, it will create the new political culture and it will strengthen the Congress party organisation. India needs a strong vibrant Congress and the Bharat Jodo Yatra is Hanuman to create ‘Sanjeevani’ for Congress,” he added.

Taking to Twitter, Ramesh said that the video bears no relation whatsoever to what is recorded in the audio.

Further Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was in Jodhpur, also took a dig at Rahul Gandhi, saying that the Congress leader is leading a campaign to unite the nation- the Bharat Jodo Yatra “wearing a foreign t-shirt”.

Earlier, BJP had also attacked the Congress on social media, claiming that Rahul Gandhi, who has been raising the issue of inflation during the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, was himself wearing a T-shirt worth Rs 41,257 and that too of a foreign brand when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been leading the mission of ‘make-in India’.

Shah referred to the “India is not a nation” reference in Rahul Gandhi’s speech in parliament.

“Rahul Gandhi has set out with Bharat Jodo Yatra wearing foreign t-shirt. I am reminding a speech by Rahul Gandhi and Congressmen in his Parliament. Rahul Baba had said that India is not a nation. Rahul Gandhi, in which book have you read this? This is the nation for which lakhs and lakhs of people have sacrificed their lives. Rahul Gandhi needs to study India’s history,” Shah said addressing Booth President Sankalp Mahasammelan in Jodhpur.