Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, said that Bharat Jodo Yatra was indeed aimed against the hatred, but the twin issues of “unemployment” and “inflation” were also hurting the country.
ADVERTISEMENT
Addressing a gathering at Haryana’s Nuh on the yatra’s entry to the State from neighbouring Rajasthan around 6 a.m., Mr. Gandhi said unemployment was one of the biggest problems facing the country and during his yatra he came across thousands of professionally qualified youth who were without jobs. “I met engineers, doctors and a few who wanted to work in judiciary, but they did not have jobs,” said Mr. Gandhi, on the 105th day of the yatra.
The yatra will pass through Nuh, Gurugram and Faridabad in Haryana over the next three days before entering Delhi on December 25. Mr. Gandhi is expected to address a public meeting each in Nuh and Sohna on Thursday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Attacking the Prime Minister Narendra Modi over price rise, Mr. Gandhi said that earlier Mr. Modi would always talk about inflation, but the fact remains that the prices of cooking gas cylinder and petrol have increased several fold during the present regime. “The cooking gas cylinder cost ₹400 during UPA rule, but now it is priced at ₹1,200. Similarly, the petrol prices have crossed ₹100 per litre mark now, while it cost only ₹60 during UPA regime,” said Mr. Gandhi.
Refraining from naming anyone, Mr. Gandhi said there was an attempt to handover the country entire wealth to a few big corporate houses. He added that demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax were not “policies”, but “weapons” to kill the small and medium businessmen.
He said that the disconnect between the masses and the leaders was growing with the latter not interested in listening to the problems of the former. Mr. Gandhi said he had tried to change this with his yatra. “We walk long distances talking to the people, listening to their problems and deliver small speeches at the end of the day,” quipped Mr. Gandhi. He also made a suggestion to the Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge to ensure that party leaders in those states where Congress was in power hit the roads once in a month.
He said he did not feel tried even after walking long distances daily, because of the “love” and the “strength” offered by the common people during the journey.
Senior Congress leaders from Haryana and Rajasthan were also present on the occasion.