LUCKNOW: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’s UP leg reached his erstwhile traditional constituency of Amethi on Monday, drawing huge crowds. He hit out at the BJP government for “not inviting” the Dalits, backwards and even the President to the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya. “It was an insult to them,” he said.
“By inviting industrialists and Amitabh Bachchan to the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple, Modi gave the message that the country’s 73% of people have no importance,” Rahul said addressing a gathering at Lalganj Indira Chowk in Rampur Khas Assembly seat.
Continuing with his onslaught, Gandhi said that it was their (BJP) India. “This is not yours. All you do is chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, while all they do is have helicopter rides and make money,” he said.
Reiterating the party’s promise to provide a legal guarantee of MSP to farmers, he said: “Farmers were stopped from entering Delhi. Modi government has put barricades, and constructed walls to stop farmers. What are they demanding? All they are asking for is MSP; it is not a big thing.”
Addressing a function in the evening, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said: “Loans of Rs 13 lakh crore of Modiji’s friends have been waived while farmers are forced to commit suicide for a loan of Rs 12,000 or Rs 13,000,” he said.
Incidentally, BJP MP Smriti Irani and Rahul Gandhi were present in Amethi on Monday. Rahul’s attack prompted the BJP MP from Amethi to challenge the former Congress chief and party’s Wayanad MP to contest from Amethi if he had the confidence to win.
The developments seem to suggest that Rahul would contest from Amethi this time.
“In 2019 he (Rahul Gandhi) left Amethi, today Amethi has left him. If he is confident, then without going to Wayanad, let him fight from Amethi alone,” said Irani. She tried to underplay Rahul’s Naya Yatra by claiming that “empty roads” of Amethi were the testimony of Rahul’s popularity.
Holding a Jan Samwad programme in Amethi as part of a four-day visit to her parliamentary constituency, Irani said that despite having won three consecutive elections from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi did very little for the constituency.
“Congress had to call workers from Sultanpur and Pratapgarh to welcome the Yatra,” Irani said. “Amethi was
distressed to note how its former representative insulted his voters in Wayanad. Also, the invite to consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya was rejected by him and his family. Amethi is dismayed at this also,” she said.
The Union Minister also claimed that sensing the mood of the people of Amethi where the voters went for a change in 2019, the Gandhi family decided to stay away from Raebareli ahead of the 2024 polls.