Team News Riveting
Srinagar, January 30
Congress leader and Member of Parliament, Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that people of Jammu and Kashmir did not give him grenades but showered and expressed their utmost love while joining and supporting the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) in the region.
“Security people had told me to go to Kashmir in a vehicle and not on foot. Administration told me that if I go on foot, grenades would be hurled at me. I thought to give an opportunity to those who hate me, to change color of my t-shirt to red,” Gandhi said while addressing a gathering at the Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar amidst heavy snowfall to end the BJY. The march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir started from the southern tip of the country on September 7 and ended on January 30 in Srinagar.
The leaders of several national and regional parties on Monday braved snowfall and bone-chilling cold to show the opposition strength and share the stage with Congress leaders at the rally organised to mark the culmination of the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar. The event was held amid tight security.
Besides Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Wayanad Lok Sabha MP was also joined by leaders from DMK, JMM, BSP, NC, PDP, CPI, RSP, VCK and IUML.
Addressing the rally to mark the Kanyakumari to Kashmir yatra, CPI leader D Raja urged all secular parties of the country to unite. “We all fought together for the independence of the country and liberated the country from British Raj. All secular parties must come together to liberate the country from BJP Raj,” he said.
Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah asked former Congress president Rahul Gandhi to undertake another yatra from west to east of the country.
Donning the Kashmiri traditional gown (pheran), Gandhi said, “I didn’t do the Yatra for myself or Congress. The aim is to stand against an ideology that wants to destroy the foundation of the country”. “My family taught me, and Gandhi Ji taught me to live fearlessly, otherwise, that is not living. But it happened just as I expected, the people of J&K didn’t give me grenades but only love”, he added.
He also spoke about the pain of losing someone while remembering his father Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, saying that he understood that pain of those who lost their kin in the Pulwama attack.
The former Congress President dared Home Minister Amit Shah and other BJP leaders to conduct or hold Padyatra in the Valley like the one he did. “I am sure they can’t do it as they are afraid and have fear in their hearts,” he said. Rahul said that Kashmiriyat was a thought and Kashmir was a home for him.
Speaking on the occasion, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that the main message of BJY was to spread love and call for the end of hatred by bringing the hearts together. “Finally, we have succeeded,” he said.
