NEW DELHI, Dec 21: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday targeted the BJP, saying while one ideology gives benefits to a select few, another is the voice of the people, farmers and labourers.
As the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by him crossed over into Haryana from Rajasthan this morning, Gandhi also said that inflation and unemployment are the biggest issues affecting the country.
Addressing a gathering in the district, where a large number of people had turned up braving the morning chill, Gandhi said the fight between two ideologies in this country was not a new one and has been going on for thousands of years.
On BJP leaders questioning the need to undertake the the Kanyakumari to Kashmir yatra, Gandhi said he was \u201copening a shop of love in the market of hate\u201d through the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
\u201cWhen these people go out to spread hatred in this country, people of our ideology go out to spread love and affection,\u201d he said.
\u201cThis is not a new fight, don\u2019t think that this fight is of today, of 21st century, this fight is thousands of years old and in two ideologies fight and have been fighting. One ideology which gives and gave benefits to select few and second ideology is the voice of people, peoples\u2019 pain, farmers\u2019 voice, labourers\u2019 voice,\u201d he said.
\u201cThis fight has been going on, will go on, but in this fight the Congress has a role and we all have a role. This is why we started this Yatra,\u201d the Congress leader said. The yatra was welcomed in Haryana by senior leaders, including former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, senior leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, Kumari Selja, Deepender Singh Hooda, state party chief Udai Bhan, among others.
Gandhi said he learnt a lot through this Yatra, which probably one does not learn sitting in cars, aeroplanes and helicopters.
Gandhi said \u201cthese days leaders have a habit and he was talking about all parties including the Congress, BJP and Samajwadi Party. Nowadays there is a gulf between leaders and the public. Leaders think there is no need to listen to people and they give lengthy speeches for hours, this Yatra has attempted to change that.\u201d
\u201cWe walk daily for 6-7 hours and all leaders listen to the voice of everyone, including farmers, labourers, youth mothers, daughters, small shopkeepers, small and medium businesses and after this we give a 15-minute speech,\u201d he said.
Gandhi said that he was happy to note that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his cabinet ministers and other party leaders from the state will walk at least 15 km once a month in the State for a better understanding of people\u2019s problems and redress their grievances.
He said he will suggest to the Congress president that wherever the party\u2019s government is there, the ministers and MLAs there need to undertake a walk for a day in a month on similar lines.
Gandhi said this yatra is definitely against hatred, but there are are two big issues which are affecting the country the most. \u201cThe biggest of them is unemployment, thousands of youth came to me\u2013 somebody has done engineering, somebody wanted to be a doctor, somebody wanted to work in judiciary,\u201d he said, while adding highly educated youth were driving taxis and doing labour works.
He alleged that only five to seven billionaires can do whatever they feel like whereas small and middle businesses have been sidelined.
\u201cFive to seven people do whatever they want to do, they are \u2018arabpatis\u2019, having crore of debt. They do whatever business they want to do be it infrastructure, port, airport, agriculture. Whereas small and middle business have been sidelined,\u201d he said.
The Congress leader said he has maintained in his speeches that demonetisation and GST are not policies but weapons to eliminate small and medium traders.
\u201cThe target is to handover the country\u2019s wealth to three-four people. The result is that the country was unable to give jobs to its youth,\u201d he said. \u201cAnother issue is inflation. You may be remembering that when the UPA government was in power, cooking gas cylinder was available for Rs 400 and today it is available at Rs 1,200.Petrol was available at Rs 60 per litre and now it is at Rs 107 a litre. Wherever Modi ji and his leaders go, they used to raise the issue of inflation. But today they do not speak about inflation,\u201d he said.
In his speech, Gandhi said someone referred to him as \u201cdesh ka tapasvi\u201d (ascetic of the country).
\u201cI have not done anything big, crores of tapasvis (ascetic) they work in fields since early morning, labourers who do tough jobs,\u201d he said.
\u201cSo, we haven\u2019t done any big thing going from Kanyakumari to Kashmir..,\u201d he said.
Noting that the yatra started from Kanyakumari, he said, \u201cLater we will unfurl the national flag in Srinagar and no power can stop this Yatra. The reason for this is that yatra is not of the Congress it is of poor people, labourers and small shopkeepers unemployed youth\u201d.
Gandhi told the gathering that they will not see any fatigue on his face in this yatra or that of others who are part of it.
\u201cWe are not walking with our strength but with your love and strength. Let\u2019s walk on the roads of Haryana for three days now and listen to hear the pain of people of Haryana,\u201d he said.
The Yatra started from Kanyakumari on September 7 and covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The first phase of Bharat Jodo Yatra in Haryana will conclude on December 23 as it will also pass from Gurugram and Faridabad districts. In the second phase, the yatra will re-enter Haryana from Uttar Pradesh at Sanoli Khurd in Panipat district on January 6. (Agencies)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI, Dec 21: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday targeted the BJP, saying while one ideology gives benefits to a select few, another is the voice of the people, farmers and labourers.As the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by him crossed over into Haryana from Rajasthan this morning, Gandhi also said that inflation and unemployment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-national","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n