SIVASAGAR/JORHAT, 18 Jan: Kickstarting the Assam leg of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that the state perhaps has the “most corrupt government” and the “most corrupt CM” in the country.
Addressing a public gathering at Haloating in Sivasagar district, where the march entered Assam from Nagaland, Gandhi slammed the ruling BJP and its ideologue Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for “spreading hatred and looting public money.”
“Perhaps the most corrupt government in India is in Assam. You know what is happening here. We will raise the issues of Assam during the yatra,” he said.
In the afternoon, Gandhi addressed a street meeting at Deberapar in Nakachari of Jorhat district and alleged that a lot of injustices are being done against tribals, tea workers and other indigenous communities of Assam by the BJP-led government.
“Corruption is rampant in Assam. We all know that perhaps the most corrupt CM in India is the Assam chief minister,” he added.
Talking about Manipur, from where the march began, Gandhi said that a civil war-like situation prevails in the hill state with ethnic violence going on since 3 May last year.
“Manipur is divided and the prime minister has not even once visited the state. Violence has been continuing for months now. People are dying and houses are being burnt, and peace has not returned yet,” he added.
In Nagaland, a framework agreement (to bring about a solution to the Naga political issue) was signed nine years ago and people are now asking what happened to it as the prime minister has not spoken about it at all, the Congress MP said.
Countering the BJP’s statement that such marches would not benefit the Congress, Gandhi said that last year’s Bharat Jodo Yatra changed the “political narrative” of the country.
“The BJP and the RSS are spreading hatred and making one community fight against the other. Their only job is to loot public money and exploit the country,” he said.
The Congress leader also alleged that all the BJP-ruled states are “facing economic, social and political injustices,” with the poor and marginalised sections bearing the brunt, and that all these issues would be raised during the yatra.
“We started the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur and it will continue till Maharashtra. This yatra not only aims at uniting every religion, caste and language in India but also to give justice,” he said.
Referring to medieval Vaishnavite saint Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva, the Congress MP said that the ongoing “justice march” is a yatra of the ideology of Sankardeva.
“He showed you (people) the way, tried to unite everyone and fought a battle against injustice. We are just replicating Assam’s history. The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra aims at doing the same,” he said.
Srimanta Sankardeva was an Assamese saint-scholar, social-religious reformer, poet and a towering figure in the cultural and religious history of the 15th-16th century in Assam.
The Congress’ Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, led by Gandhi, on Thursday entered Assam from Nagaland through Haloating in Sivasagar district.
He resumed his journey in a bus from Tuli in Nagaland in the early morning and reached Assam at around 9:45 am.
Gandhi was received by hundreds of party workers at Haloating, where the national flag was handed over to Assam Congress leaders for the eight-day journey in the state.
After the brief function, the march resumed and proceeded towards Jorhat district through Amguri town in Sivasagar while passing through picturesque tea gardens on both sides of the road.
Scores of people lined up on both sides of the road and greeted Gandhi, who was seen waving his hands from inside the bus with senior party leaders on board.
At Amguri market, he alighted from the bus and shook hands with the people assembled there to have a glimpse of the former Congress president.
Gandhi later reached Nakachari in Jorhat and was accorded a warm welcome by Congress workers of the district.
In the afternoon, the march began its onward journey towards Jorhat town, while stopping at several places en route, such as Mariani.
Near Deberpar Chariali, Gandhi disembarked from the bus, seeing a huge crowd, mostly tea garden workers, waiting for him. He went inside the garden, where he was garlanded with scores of Assamese scarf ‘gamocha’, and shook hands with the people.
The yatra, led by the Congress MP, commenced from Manipur on 14 January and will culminate on 20 March in Mumbai.
The Assam leg of the march will continue till 25 January. It will travel 833 kms in 17 districts.
The yatra plans to cover 6,713 kms in 67 days while passing through 110 districts in 15 states. (PTI)
