Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said the Bharat Jod Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi has brought unity in the Congress in the last 70 days as the party battles political challenges.
The Congress’s mass contact initiative, the foot march entered its 69th day on Tuesday and reached Washim district in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region from Hingoli.
Addressing a press conference in Washim, Ramesh said Gandhi would also address a public meeting of tribals on the occasion of the birth anniversary of eminent tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda.
Hitting out at the Centre, Ramesh claimed that the Forest Rights Act and the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 have been diluted and are particularly harmful to tribals.
The legislations were brought during the rule of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
Ramesh alleged that Narendra Modi The government’s policy was to forcefully take the land of farmers and give it to big companies.
Bharat Jodi Yatra has nothing to do with vote bank. Its aim is above politics, the Congress leader said.
“This is the journey of a political party and we are fighting political challenges,” he said.
He said, “One thing is clearly visible that the way our party has united in the last 70 days… the way we have started working on time. There is an Indian Standard Time and there is a Congress Standard Time,” he said.
Gandhi started his padyatra from Falegaon in Hingoli district on Tuesday morning. Ramesh, former Maharashtra minister Yashomati Thakur and other party leaders accompanied Gandhi.
Ramesh remembered tribal leader Birsa Munda on his birth anniversary on Tuesday.
Posting a tweet, he said, “Today is the 69th day of the #BharatJodi Yatra and the 147th birth anniversary of Birsa Munda who was born just 15 days after Sardar Patel. But sadly, at the young age of 25, he came to Ranchi. He died in a British prison.” “An Adivasi (not a forest dweller, as the RSS adivasi calls it), Birsa Munda should be an inspiration to all Indians. The causes for which he set out. His life, especially the tribal land rights are most relevant today ,” said Ramesh.
The government had last year declared Tribal Pride Day on November 15, the birth anniversary of Munda, to remember the contribution of tribal freedom fighters.
Bharat Jodi Yatra, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on 7th September, has so far covered 28 districts in six states.
It entered Deglur in Maharashtra on 7th November and has till now covered Nanded and Hingoli districts of the state.
The yatra will cover a distance of 382 km across five districts of Maharashtra before entering Madhya Pradesh on November 20.
It will pass through 12 states before terminating in Jammu and Kashmir in January after covering a distance of 3,570 km in about 150 days.
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