Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi embarked on the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur on Sunday, promising to bring peace and harmony to the ethnically violence-hit State. Addressing a public meeting in Thoubal, south of Manipur’s capital Imphal, Rahul criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggesting that, for the BJP and the RSS, Manipur might not be considered a part of India.
“Lakhs of people faced losses, but the Prime Minister has not come here to wipe your tears, hold your hand, or embrace you. Maybe for Narendra Modi, the BJP, and the RSS, Manipur is not a part of India. Your pain is not their pain,” Rahul said.
The violence that erupted in the northeastern State in May last year has claimed more than 180 lives and left thousands homeless.
“We understand the pain that the people of Manipur have been through, we understand the hurt, the sadness. We will bring back the harmony, peace, and affection for which this State was known,” he said.
The yatra will cover a distance of 6,713 km, spanning 100 Lok Sabha constituencies and 337 assembly segments, covering 110 districts. It will conclude in Mumbai on March 20 after 67 days.
Earlier, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also criticised the Prime Minister, stating that he came to the northeastern State only to seek votes and not to share the grief of the people when they are in pain.
“Modi has time to drive by the sea, take a dip in the sea but has not come to Manipur. Modi keeps chanting ‘Ram, Ram’, but he should not do it just to seek votes. The BJP mixes religion and politics, inciting people,” he said at the launch of the yatra. “The BJP has ‘Ram’ on its lips but carries a knife by their side. They should not have such an approach towards the people,” the Congress president said.
Kharge said the Congress stood for social justice, secularism, and equity. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is being undertaken to safeguard the Constitution and democracy and to combat fascist forces, he said.
The Congress president expressed pride that a leader of his party was moving from door-to-door to spread the message of peace. Earlier, Kharge unveiled the bus on which Gandhi and other Congress leaders will travel from Manipur to Mumbai as part of the yatra.
The Congress leaders also paid homage at the Khongjom War Memorial in Thoubal. Rahul reached the Imphal airport in the afternoon and was accorded a rousing welcome by Congress supporters. He then went to a nearby private ground, named “Nyay Maidan,” from where the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra began.
Lok Sabha member Danish Ali, recently suspended by the BSP, also joined the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, stating that he would be failing in his duty as a politician if he did not participate in the “biggest drive for unity and justice.”
Ali has actively aligned himself with the opposition, criticising the BJP and its policies, even though the Mayawati-led BSP has maintained a distance from the BJP-led NDA as well as the opposition bloc INDIA. BSP suspended him in December for “anti-party” activities.
Ali sat alongside Congress leaders in the front row on the dais at the Yatra flag-off event in Thoubal on Sunday and later joined Gandhi on the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra bus. He recalled that Rahul Gandhi was the “first leader to express solidarity” with him after he faced a hate “attack” in Parliament when a BJP MP used derogatory words against him.