Courting controversy and facing attack from the BJP and swipe from the Left, Congress’ “Bharat Jodo Yatra” entered the seventh day on Tuesday. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who leads the 3,500 km long walkathon across the nation from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, is accompanied by hundreds of party workers and joined by thousands of citizens from different walks of life.
Rahul has faced vicious attacks from the BJP over the use of a `41,000 T-shirt and meeting a controversial pastor. The CPI(M) ridiculed him for spending 18 days in Left-ruled Kerala and just two in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh.
The CPI(M) “ridiculed” Rahul’s yatra for excluding crucial States like Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and a major portion of Uttar Pradesh from the itinerary and thus questioned the sincerity of the mission.
Congress sources, however, said that a “sub-padyatra” is part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. It is being planned in Bihar, Odisha, northeastern States, and other States that are left out.
Meanwhile, the yatra has generated another controversy with the apex child rights body NCPCR asking the election commission to initiate necessary action and inquiry into a complaint against Congress and Rahul for allegedly “misusing children as political tools” in the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights said it is in receipt of a complaint wherein it has been alleged that Gandhi and the Jawahar Bal Manch are targeting children with political intentions and making them get involved in political activities.
According to the complainant, it has been alleged that “many disturbing images and videos have been circulating on social media wherein it can be seen that children are being targeted and are made to participate in their campaign with a political agenda under the slogan ‘Bharat Jodo, Bacche Jodo’”, the NCPCR said.
The NCPCR charged that this is a violation of election commission rules which say that only adults can be part of a political party.
Rahul, who is leading the Bharat Jodo Yatra , on Tuesday expressed his strong reservations over the controversial Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram High-Speed Rail Track and asked the Congress leadership in Kerala to agitate against the project.
The former president of Congress met persons who stand to lose their households and farmlands to the project and assured them of all help. Congress leaders in Kerala are on a path of agitation against the 530 km project which is enmeshed in controversies.
Rahul Gandhi completed the walkathon through the district of Thiruvananthapuram unperturbed by the rainfalls.
If the public participation which we are experiencing is any indication, the Yatra has already become a success,” said Ramesh Chennithala, former Minister and senior leader. Mohammed Shiraz, the president of the Ernakulam district Congress Committee who is in charge of the Yatra for the next three days, said that there was a unanimity among partymen that Rahul should take over the presidency of the party.