BJP, RSS destroying idea of India: Rahul
TRIVANDRUM:RAHUL Gandhi’s long march entered Kerala’s Alappuzha district on Saturday walking around 200 kilometres since it began from the southern tip of Kanyakumari ten days ago.
The Congress party leader began walking from Karunagappally in Kollam district at 6:00 am and by 10:00 am, he and fellow marchers reached Kayamkulam in Alappuzha.
Though the organisers promised to limit the gathering to 300 in the morning to avoid traffic disruptions, a large crowd was visible at the start and it grew as they advanced through the highway.
People also gathered in large numbers on both sides to greet him on his Bharat Jodo Yatra or unite India march that will take him to the northernmost Kashmir state in 15 days.
Organisers said an estimated 300,000 people had gathered in the evening to listen the Rahul’s speech at the conclusion of the march in the evening.
“Hundreds of thousands of people walked with us, children, adults, senior citizens, men, women gave us support,” he told the crowd at Karunagappally.
“I could see many people geting pushed, even some people geting hurt, but then again standing up and coming back and walking.”
“Even some senior citizens, they got pushed, fell down and then stood up and started walking again,” he added.
“Of course, many of our workers, many Congresspeople are walking, but, so are many, many others. They are walking because they understand deeply the idea behind this.”
Rahul, who resigned as the party’s president ater the crushing defeat in the 2019 elections, targets Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in his speeches.
He tells large crowds gathering to hear him how BJP and its ideological superstructure Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were destroying the “idea of India.”
“(People) understand deeply what is being done to their beautiful country. They can see the hatred that is being spread by the BJP and the RSS,” he said. “They can see how the BJPRSS makes one brother fight against another to come to power, divides people along religious lines, … they can see all this.”
He accused the RSS of believing in an ideology that treats the women of India as second-class citizens and that they do not have the right to express themselves.