NEW DELHI: After the long secret sabbatical came the ‘yatra’. AICC vice- president Rahul Gandhi on Friday embarked on a pilgrimage to meet, what he described as a “fire like energy”, at the world famous Kedarnath Temple.
But Lord Shiva, however, could be tough to please. BJP leaders in the state aren’t impressed either. A day after Rahul returned from what his supporters and state Congress unit workers termed as “adhyaatmik” (spiritual) yatra, Haridwar MP and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said it would have been better had the AICC vice-president also met people affected by the 2013 flash floods in the region to know the real situation.
Pokhriyal told Express over the phone, “It was Rahul Gandhi’s personal trip. The doors of the Kedarnath Temple are open for everyone. But CM Harish Rawat is taking Rahul’s visit to pat his own back. The CM is saying that he has passed the test. Who has passed him? The region is suffering. The work undertaken by the state government has been slow and below satisfactory. Rahul quietly came to visit the Dham and left. We have no problem with that. I would, however, like to point out that the last time Rahul came to Kedarnath was during the devastating Uttarakhand floods. Many locals died and many were rendered homeless in the floods. He went to the Kedar region by a helicopter. He should have met the locals back in 2013 and now.”
Pokhriyal said CM Rawat should have actually helped the Congress vice-president take stock of the problems faced by the locals.
At the Kedarnath, surrounded by the snow covered mountains, Rahul stood next to the priest with hands folded in the front. He explained the purpose of choosing to trek like a wise brand ambassador to the shrine.
The reverence for the dead was conveyed. But the anger stands unmoved. According to Ajendra Ajay, head of the Kedarnath Visthapan Va Punarvas Sangathan and a BJP leader from Rudraprayag, Rahul did not meet the flood affected locals.
“Women from Gauri Gaon wanted to meet him. They could not. Where is the apathy for the flood victims? He would have known the condition of the national highway had he travelled by road instead.”
Is Rahul’s visit a move to stress his Hindu identity? Pokhriyal says, “I don’t want to comment on Rahul. For years, the Congress has played the caste politics, of appeasement and communalism. It was because of their politics that Hindus had to leave Jammu and Kashmir. The visit has solved the purpose for the state unit.”
Rahul’s mission Kedarnath has left a balmy effect on the state Congress unit which seems desperate to rake in some appreciation from the party’s top echelons in Rawat’s favour.
State Congress leader Kishore Upadhyay is ecstatic.
“Rahul has achieved a great deal,” he says over the phone.
“The confidence of the party workers and the people of Uttarakhand has gone up by Rahul’s visit. He has got a chance to see the good work done by Rawat. Rahul knows his facts. He had meals prepared at Linchauli. He also had the mandua roti. It’s rich in iron,” Upadhyay said.