Many Congress leaders joined Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, 24 December as his Bharat Jodo Yatra entered the national capital Delhi. All the leaders The Quint spoke to, reiterated that the aim of the yatra is raise common people's issues such as unemployment and price rise and unite the country against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's politics of religion and hate.
"This yatra is not for any particular party, it is for uniting the country. The way these people [the BJP] has worked towards breaking up the country, Rahul Gandhi has taken out this yatra to unite it," National President of the Indian Youth Congress Srinivas BV told The Quint.
Ajay Kumar Lallu, Former President of of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, said that Rahul Gandhi speaks about the real issues that concern the people.
"What phase is the country's going through? Dispensation of hate, politics of religion is what we are witnessing. And in this situation, there is one person who is talking about issues, about farmers, poor, labourers, unemployed, about inflation," he told The Quint.
Youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar took a jab at the ruling party for targeting Rahul Gandhi. "They have been in power for eight year but are still behaving as if they are in the opposition," he said.
Many other Congress leaders, including Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala, walked with Gandhi in Delhi on Saturday. He was later also joined by former Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi also joined Rahul. This is the second time senior Gandhi has joined Rahul on his padayatra.
Bharat Jodo Yatra began in Kanyakumari on 7 September and will conclude in Kashmir on or around 26 January.
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