LUCKNOW: The ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', being led by former Congress chief and party MP from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi, entered Uttar Pradesh through eastern UP district of Chandauli after covering neighbouring Bihar, on Friday.
Immediately after entering UP through Chandauli, the district adjacent to Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the PM over the Ram temple consecration in Ayodhya last month.
He said red carpet was rolled out for billionaires at the function but no place was given to an Adivasi (scheduled tribe) president, farmers, labourers or the poor.
In his address at the National Inter College in Saiyyedraja township on UP-Bihar border, the Congress leader said: ”In that function you would not have seen the Aadiwasi President (Droupadi Murmu), farmers, labourers or the poor. But, red carpet was laid out for Ambani, Adani and Amitabh Bachchan."
Gandhi, amid a cheering crowd, alleged that at present the country was fraught with hatred and violence.
He called it the battle between two contrary ideologies. One (of the BJP) which pertained to dividing the society and siphoning off peoples’ money to give it to a few chosen billionaires of the country, while the other (of Congress) which opens the ‘shop of love and affection in the market of hatred.
Highlighting how on people’s popular demand, he had embarked upon a second yatra called Bharat Jodo ‘Nyay’ Yatra from Manipur to Maharashtra, Rahul said that the word ‘Nyay’ in his Yatra this time, is a promise of justice to the sections including farmers, youth and poor who are facing injustice in the form of socio-economic disparities.
He said there were two nations, “One of 1% billionaires Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Shahrukh Khan, Virat Kohli, who appear on television. The other nation is of the poor, farmers and labourers, who are in majority but not shown anywhere.”
Rahul claimed that after unemployment and inflation, the third major issue was of social justice.
“The objective of Nyay Yatra is to raise voice against the injustice being meted out to farmers, labourers, unemployed and poor with whom countrymen as well as entire INDIA alliance will stand,” he added.
Leading the yatra in a red open jeep, Rahul Gandhi was accorded a warm welcome in UP by UPCC chief Ajay Rai and other senior leaders of the party wherein Bihar Congress Committee President Akhilesh Singh passed the baton in the form of Congress flag to his UP counterpart Ajay Rai.
However, Rahul Gandhi has decided to cut short his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Uttar Pradesh by skipping western part of the state and saving five days, said a party leader while citing board exams.
The yatra was earlier scheduled to remain in Uttar Pradesh from February 16 to 26 before entering Rajasthan. However, it will now end on February 21 and enter Madhya Pradesh by skipping western UP. Rahul will lead the Yatra in Amethi on February 19 and will reach Rae Bareli the next day from where it will proceed to Lucknow.
After making a night halt in Lucknow on February 20, the yatra will reach Unnao on February 21. It will enter Kanpur to reach Jhansi via Hamirpur, after which it would enter Madhya Pradesh the same day.