The BJP’s disinformation and falsehood about the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ reflect the ‘fear’ and ‘frustration’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that party, the Congress alleged on Monday.
Addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Gourav Vallabh claimed that the enthusiastic public response to former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had prompted the BJP leadership to attack Mr. Gandhi.
“Prime Minister Modi’s fear is reflecting in actions and speeches of BJP leaders,” Mr. Vallabh alleged, adding “the BJP is rattled by the yatra.”
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“There is a sense of fret and discomfort among the top cadre of the BJP with the love, affection and support that Rahul ji is receiving from the people in his Bharat Jodo Yatra. The entire government machinery has been put up against one man trying to correct what the BJP Government has destroyed in the last eight years,” he added.
‘Distortion of facts’
Citing examples of distorting facts, Mr. Vallabh said Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani lied about Mr. Gandhi not visiting Swami Vivekananda’s memorial at Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu before starting the yatra from there.
“The fact was that Rahul ji visited the Vivekananda Rock Memorial and paid tributes while launching the Bharat Jodo Yatra,” the Congress spokesperson said.
Mr. Vallabh also contested BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya’s claim that Mr. Gandhi had not made any public speech during the yatra after the launch. “While no one takes the BJP IT cell head thoughtfully and is well known for his ability to expose himself as a fake news peddler, the fact states otherwise,” Mr. Vallabh said.
“The most insensitive, toxic, degenerate comment that has come out is by the BJP Tamil Nadu IT cell head. This comment brings out the true mindset of BJP leaders and workers. While they may operate in the mindset that CTR Nirmal Kumar tried to bring out, the world works differently and doesn’t want to be painted in the light that BJP wants them to,” he added.
The Congress spokesperson also claimed that comments made around the containers, clothes etc. only show the annoyance at the success of the yatra.
More yatras
Announcing more yatras in States that are not covered by the route of the main ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, the party’s communication chief Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “After the announcement of 800 km Dhubri to Sadiya Bharat Jodo Yatra-Assam from Nov 1 comes the announcement of the 2,300 km Bharat Jodo Yatra-Odisha that will be a parikrama of the State starting on Oct 31st from Bhubaneswar. Please await news of similar launches in other States”.
