Bharat Jodo Yatra: Congress leader and former Union Minister Salman Khurshid has compared Rahul Gandhi to Lord Ram, Congress to ‘Bharat’, and likened party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra to the epic Ramayana.
Speaking to media during the Bharat Jodo Yatra which has entered Uttar Pradesh now, Salman Khurshid said, “Rahul Gandhi is superhuman. While we are freezing in the cold and wearing jackets, he is going out in T-shirts. He is like a yogi doing his ‘tapasya’ with focus.”
The former Union Minister further said, “Lord Ram’s ‘khadau’ (wooden sleepers) goes very far. Sometimes, when Ram ji is not able to reach, Bharat takes the ‘khadau’ and goes to places. Like that, we have carried the ‘khadau’ in Uttar Pradesh… Ram ji (Rahul Gandhi) will also come.”
Responding to Centre’s advice to Congress, seeking adherence to Covid protocol during the Bharat Jodo Yatra amid a spike of cases in a few countries, Khurshid said that there cannot be exclusive guidelines for the party and added they will follow the norms whenever universal guidelines will be issued.
BJP says Rahul Gandhi ‘doing drama’
BJP on Monday attacked the Congress and demanded an apology over unsavoury remarks made against former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee by a leader attached to the Congress chief’s office, even as the opposition party distanced itself from the controversy.
Gaurav Pandhi, who is a coordinator with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s office and handles social media for him, had put out a tweet alleging that Vajpayee had sided with the British. He later deleted it as the BJP accused Rahul Gandhi of “doing a drama” of paying homage at Vajpayee’s memorial while party leaders use “abusive words” against the former prime minister.
On Monday morning, Rahul Gandhi visited the ‘samadhi’ of Mahatma Gandhi and several former prime ministers, including Vajpayee whose birth anniversary was on Sunday.
The Congress noted that Pandhi has since deleted the controversial tweet and asserted that the party’s stand and that of Rahul Gandhi are the same.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala demanded that the Congress should apologise for Pandhi’s remarks, “else one will be forced to believe that the words of Congress leader Gaurav Pandhi are Rahul Gandhi’s thoughts”.
(With inputs from PTI)
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