During his 14-day leg in Maharashtra, the Congress leader will walk 381 km through 15 Assembly and six parliamentary constituencies
During his 14-day leg in Maharashtra, the Congress leader will walk 381 km through 15 Assembly and six parliamentary constituencies
The entire town of Degloor in Nanded district of Maharashtra was aglow with mashals (flaming torches) as the Bharat Jodo Yatra spearheaded by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrived here.
More than 3,000 torches were lit to welcome the Wayanad MP in the manner befitting the Maharashtrian tradition at the giant statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
His yatra entered the State from Telangana where he carried on his walkathon for 15 days.
Addressing a huge gathering, Mr. Gandhi said “come what may, no force on earth could stop the yatra until it reaches the destination at Srinagar as scheduled. The transient impediments caused by inimical forces or natural calamities will not deter me.”
He took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being ‘insensitive’ in not controlling the rising prices of essential commodities and fuel.
As soon as Mr. Gandhi set his foot on Maratha land, slogans such as “ Jaat paat ka bandan todo, Bharat Jodo Bharat Jodo; Nafrat chodo, Bharat jodo; Rahul ji tum aage badoo, hum tumhare saat hai” rented the air.
From the Shivaji Maharaj statue, Mr. Gandhi walked for nine km and offered prayers at Gurdwara Yaadgari Baba Zoravar Singh ji, Fate Singh Ji at Vanali.
During his 14-day leg in Maharashtra, the Congress leader will walk 381 km through 15 Assembly and six parliamentary constituencies. In Nanded district, the bastion of former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Mr. Gandhi will walk 106 km in five days. It will be followed by 91 km in Hingoli district, 54 km in Washim district, 59 km in Akola district, and 71 km in Buldhana before entering Madhya Pradesh.
Public rallies
Mr. Gandhi will ride the wave of discontent over issues such as suicide of farmers, ‘failure’ of the current political dispensation to support farmers who suffered losses due to heavy rains, unemployment and flight of big ticket industries to neighbouring Gujarat. He will address two public rallies in Nanded and Shegaon on November 10 and 18 respectively.
The 150-day marathon walk covering 3,570 km from Kaniyakumari in Tamil Nadu from September 7 will conclude in Kashmir to unite the country against ‘divisive politics’.
A host of Maharashtra Congress leaders led by MPCC chief Nana Patole, three former Chief Ministers of Maharashtra Mr. Chavan, Sushilkumar Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan, and CLP leader Balasaheb Thorat welcomed him.
Earlier, Telangana Congress chief A. Revanth Reddy passed on the national flag to Mr. Patole as a symbolic sign announcing the beginning of the yatra in Maharashtra.
Mr. Chavan, who has mobilised a heavy crowd to accord welcome at the threshold of Maharashtra, was buoyant as he thinks Mr. Gandhi’s walkathon in the State would revive the prospects of the party.
Chavan’s confidence
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Chavan expressed confidence that the yatra would strengthen the organisational structure of the party.
He said Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi leader Prakash Ambedkar’s comments on the yatra were an indication on who would play spoilsport in the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. “When nothing has been broken in India, the need of binding does not arise,” Mr. Ambedkar recently commented on the yatra.
When asked whether he (Mr. Ambedkar) was doing it on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party, both Mr. Shinde and Mr. Nana Patole said it would not be appropriate for them to say so. “It won’t be appropriate for us to react to his comments,” they said.
The party’s ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said its State president Jayanth Patil, Baramati MP Supriya Sule, and MLA Jitendra Awhad would walk with Mr. Gandhi on November 10. NCP supremo Sharad Pawar is unlikely to take part in the yatra.
