Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Day 35: Rahul visits Kashi temple in Varanasi

Varanasi: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that India is a country of love and harmony where people love and respect each other. “Patriotism means keeping the country united,” he said while addressing a public meeting on the thirty-fifth day of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

Before embarking on the yatra on Saturday, Rahul Gandhi paid obeisance at the holy temple of Kashi Vishwanath. He said that the Nyay Yatra got an overwhelming response ‘in this holy city represented by the prime minister Narendra Modi in the Parliament.’

Varanasi resident Rahul raises unemployment issues with Rahul

Gandhi said, during his 4,000 km-long Bharat Jodo Yatra last year from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, he had found that India was full of love and harmony and people loved and respected each other. He said, only an India, which is united and where people are together can be stronger.

In the course of his speech in the holy city here, Gandhi interacted with people and asked about their problems. They said, unemployment and rising prices were the two main problems they faced. One of the youths he interacted with was also named Rahul. “One Rahul will speak to another,” Gandhi remarked in a lighter vein, sending the people into bursts of laughter.

The youth (Rahul) told Gandhi that he (Gandhi) had raised the hopes of tens of thousands of people like him. He said he was a graduate and was still in search of a job trying his luck everywhere, including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He disclosed that he had applied to UP Police where 65 lakh applicants had applied against 80,000 jobs, suggesting the level of unemployment prevailing in the country.

‘Two types of India’

Gandhi agreed with the youth, saying unemployment and the skyrocketing prices were two main problems being faced by the country. He pointed out, the demonetisation and the wrong implementation of the GST had created havoc with the small and medium scale industry, which used to generate jobs.

The former Congress president maintained that there were ‘two types of India’ right now in the country. One type represented the select few who had control over the entire wealth and resources of the country, while the other India consisted of the poor, the farmers, the downtrodden and it was this India which was suffering and struggling.

Gandhi regretted that the media was also not highlighting the plight of such people and would only beam the images of PM Modi. He said, the media will never show the sufferings of the people as it was mostly owned by the prime minister’s ‘friends’ like Adani and Ambani and they will never show anything that the prime minister will not like.