A day after the Election Commission announced the schedule for Lok Sabha elections 2024, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the conclusion ceremony of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra said that his party is and the entire opposition are fighting against a Shakti (power).
Addressing the people at the conclusion ceremony of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Rahul Gandhi said, “There is a word ‘Shakti’ in Hinduism. We are fighting against a Shakti. The question is, what is that Shakti. The soul of the King is in the EVM. This true. The soul of the King in the EVM and every institution of the country, in ED, CBI and Income Tax department.”
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“A senior leader from Maharashtra left Congress and cried in from of my mother and said ‘Sonia ji, I am ashamed that I don’t have the power to fight this Shakti. I do not want to go to jail.’ Thousands of people have been threatened like this…” he added.
Here’s what Gandhi and INDIA alliance leaders said:
1) “We are not fighting against one particular political party or person. We are fighting against a ‘shakti’ (higher power). A veteran leader of this state at the time of leaving the Congress party told my mother that he did not have the strength to go to jail. And he is not alone, thousands of people have similarly been threatened,” said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
2) “You are Bharat Mata and it is your responsibility to fight them (the BJP-led NDA government). I am ready to do anything for you and this country. Don’t allow hatred to spread, ‘nafrat ke bazaar me mahobbat ki dukaan kholo‘,” he said.
3) Gandhi even referred Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an ‘actor’.
4) “We had to undertake this yatra because the communication system of the country, including media and social media, is not in the hands of the country. Issues that concern the public like unemployment, violence, inflation, farmers’ issues, etc. are not being shown. To attract the attention of the country, we had to walk 4,000 km,” Rahul Gandhi added.
5) “I have come here to thank INDIA (bloc) on behalf of India. This 10,000 km yatra was not just the yatra of Rahul Gandhi or Congress, it was a yatra of thousands of organizations of the country who want to save the Constitution,” said activist Yogendra Yadav.
6) “Earlier, we announced ‘five guarantees’ of Congress and we added five more to it later for the poor, farmers, women, and youth. Now, we (INDIA alliance partners) have agreed upon 25 guarantees, and it will be announced soon. Modi’s guarantee is for the rich; our guarantee is for the common man,” said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
7) Shiva Sena (UBT) Uddhav Thackeray stated that the BJP is a balloon and unfortunately we are one of those who filled the air in it. For PM Modi, only he and the chair of the prime minister is his family.
8) INDIA will not surrender and will not stop, said Kalpana Soren wife of former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren.
9) Speaking at the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti says, “…You (Rahul Gandhi) have Gandhi in your name and the BJP is scared of it. Today, I can see people with different thoughts and ideas here, let me tell you this is ‘India.’ The election is all set to begin; the public has the most powerful weapon of the Constitution and that is the ‘vote.’….”
10) RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said, “….He (Rahul Gandhi) has tried to deliver a message which is quite significant in today’s days…To save India’s Constitution, and brotherhood and to defeat hatred, he commenced the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ and for that my heartfelt thanks to Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party.”
With agency inputs.
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Published: 17 Mar 2024, 09:53 PM IST