THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra got a rousing welcome at Parassala in Kerala when it crossed the state's border with Tamil Nadu on Sunday at 7:15 am. Rahul treaded the first stretch of the 14 km padayatra from Parassala until Ooruttukala in Neyyattinkara effortlessly despite the high humidity, where he camped at Madhavi Mandiram adjacent to the G Ramachandran Public School.
The place has got significance as it was the house of Dr G Ramachandran, freedom fighter and secretary of Mahatma Gandhi, which he had visited in 1937.
Rahul Gandhi who has taken an arduous task to meet the people across the country on foot was welcomed at Parassala by the State Congress president K Sudhakaran, Opposition Leader V D Satheesan, senior Congress leaders Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala, MP's Shashi Tharoor, K Muraleedharan and Benny Behanan, national general secretary in charge of the State, Tariq Anwar and also by a horde of Congress leaders.
Tharoor’s presence evoked interest as he had criticized Rahul Gandhi’s style of functioning. The Gandhi scion, clad in a white t-shirt and navy blue pants, was welcomed by party supporters and onlookers including children who stood on both sides of the road. While some of them carried the tricolour, the rest carried placards carrying the picture of Rahul Gandhi.
When the padayatra entered the fourth day after it was kicked off at Kanyakumari on Wednesday, Jairam Ramesh, the chief spokesperson of the national Congress lashed out against the BJP Government at Madhavi Mandiram.
“The BJP and RSS’s ploy is to divide the country. Congress has always believed in unity in diversity. Today, India is being torn apart. Unity is being threatened, so diversity is also threatened. Hence we have launched Bharat Jodo Yatra and it is not aimed at the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Economic inequality is increasing day by day. Secondly, the country is being torn apart because of social polarization and thirdly, the Constitutional powers are being misused or ignored”, said Jairam Ramesh.
When the Congress is seeing the padayatra as a “sanjivani” as per the words of Jairam Ramesh, it cut short the Kerala yatra by a day to 18 days. Much to the amusement of national general secretary (organization) KC Venugopal and the 300 odd permanent padayatris who are accompanying Rahul Gandhi, he is keen to walk more than 25 km per day.
During the course of the press meet, Venugopal quipped that the rest of the team members are finding it difficult to cope with the stamina of Rahul Gandhi. Venugopal also unleashed his tirade against the BJP for taking up cudgels against union Home minister Amit Shah for raking up controversies on Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with a pastor, George Ponnaiah at Kanyakumari and also his “expensive T-shirt”.
“The padayatra is already a huge success and it has definitely affected Amit Shah. Otherwise, why should he pick up issues on his T-shirt? The BJP wants to derail the padayatra and they are coming up with childish and stupid tactics. They have been rattled by the BJY. We are not afraid of them and will not allow them to derail our objective. Our leader is like a bullet train going on a 25 km walk when others can’t meet up to his pace”, said Venugopal.
Rahul Gandhi to initiate peace brokering on the Vizhinjam and K Rail protests
Speculations were rife since Saturday that Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to visit the protesters against the Vizhinjam Transhipment International Container Terminal at Muttom beach. The Opposition which had brought out an adjournment motion in the Legislative Assembly recently has got a big boost with Rahul Gandhi deciding to intervene in the Vizhinjam protest. But it is not clear how Rahul Gandhi will be able to bring a solution as the Vizhinjam project was the dream initiative of the Oommen Chandy-led UDF Government. Venugopal and Opposition Leader Satheesan informed that Rahul Gandhi will be meeting the representatives of the Latin Catholic Archdiocese of Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
“R Sridhar of Anti K Rail Movement took part in the padayatra from Parassala. During the course of the yatra, Sridhar apprised Rahul Gandhi of the repercussions of the K-Rail. The legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru are being continued by Rahul Gandhi where he will be meeting the leaders of all movements”, said Satheesan.
Visit to social reformers places
The central leaders also informed that Rahul Gandhi will be visiting the birthplace of social reformers Ayyankali, Chattampi Swami and Sree Narayana Guru. Taking a detour from the padayatra, Rahul Gandhi will be visiting Ayyankali’s home at Venganoor on Sunday. On Monday, he will visit the Chattampi Swami memorial and the next day he will make a visit to Sivagiri Mutt.