Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited a gurdwara in the Nanded district of Maharashtra ahead of Bharat Jodo Yatra on Tuesday. The Congress MP visited Gurdwara Yaadgari Baba Zoravar Singh Ji Fateh Singh Ji on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti a few hours after the yatra entered Maharashtra Monday night from Telangana.
At the gurdwara, Gandhi prayed for harmony and equality, the party tweeted. The yatra will proceed from the gurdwara to Atkali in the Biloli district of Nanded. Gandhi is scheduled to halt at Godavari Manar Sugar Factory ground in Biloli for a night stay, a party functionary said.
Rahul Gandhi also took to Twitter to inform about his visit to the gurdwara in Maharashtra. “Started the Yatra in Maharashtra, on the auspicious occasion of Gurpurab with Ardas in Gurdwara Yadari Baba Zorawar Singh Ji, Fateh Singh Ji. By applying Guru Nanak's teachings of love, peace, and brotherhood, we will fulfill this resolve to unite India. Lakhs of greetings of Gurpurab to all the countrymen,” Gandhi wrote on Twitter.
Gandhi on Monday said, small and medium businesses suffered due to the Centre’s wrong policies like demonetisation and poor implementation of the Goods and Service Tax. He entered Maharashtra holding a 'flaming torch' (mashaal). Gandhi said during his stay in Maharashtra over the next 15 days, he will listen to the voice of the state and also its pain and asserted no force can stop his 61-day-old yatra that began on September 7 from Kanniyakumari (Tamil Nadu) and will culminate in Srinagar.
The 3,570-km-long yatra the former Congress president led reached Deglur in central Maharashtra's Nanded district from neighbouring Telangana. During his stay in the state, Gandhi will address two rallies as part of the cross-country march aimed at reviving the party. Gandhi said the march started two months back from Kanniyakumari and it will stop only at Srinagar after hoisting the tricolour.
“No force can stop this yatra,” asserted the former Congress president, whose party was a strong political force in Maharashtra for several decades and was a constituent of the three-party ruling coalition till June this year. Gandhi said the yatra aims to bind the country together and highlighted major issues before the country.
“The reality of India is that the country cannot give employment to its youth, even if it is willing. On one hand, there is unemployment, on the other hand, there is inflation,” he said, attacking the Modi government. The Congress MP said the main aim of his cross-country foot march is to raise his voice against the spread of hatred, anger, and violence.
Gandhi will address two rallies during his yatra in Maharashtra - the first on November 10 in Nanded district and on November 18 at Shegaon in Buldhana district. The march led by the Wayanad Lok Sabha MP will traverse through 15 Assembly and 6 parliamentary constituencies in Maharashtra during its sojourn. It will cover a distance of 382 km across five districts before entering Madhya Pradesh on November 20.
The yatra will proceed through the Nanded district for four days and enter the Hingoli district on November 11, Washim on November 15, Akola on November 16, and Buldhana on November 18, according to the schedule. The Congress has invited Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, both party allies, to participate in the foot march. Pawar had earlier said he would join the yatra.
However, senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan has said the participation of Pawar in the yatra in Maharashtra will depend on his health condition. Pawar (81) was recently hospitalised in Mumbai for fever and other health issues. The NCP chief on Saturday flew to Shirdi from Mumbai with doctors and addressed a party convention briefly in the temple town in Ahmednagar district.
(With PTI Inputs)