BJNY day 43: Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav resolve to defeat `hate mongering’ BJP

AGRA, February 25: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav today resolved to defeat the “hate-mongering” Bharatiya Janata Party.

Expressing confidence that India National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA will defeat the BJP, the two leaders said the greatest challenge for the country was to save the democracy and constitution.

Akhilesh Yadav joined the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (BJNY) on the forty-third day here today. He was accompanied by senior party leaders and tens of thousands of his party workers, as he joined the Yatra along with Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.

Gandhi thanked Yadav and all the SP leaders and workers for participating in the Yatra. He said, a new message has gone across that the INDIA bloc together will defeat the BJP, which was trying to divide the country.

He said the greatest fight right now for the INDIA bloc is against the hatred and disharmony being spread by the BJP.

Asserting that India is a country of love and not hatred, Rahul Gandhi said, their top most priority is to stand up against the hate and defeat it.

The former Congress president said this was the fight for social and economic justice that the INDIA bloc is fighting together. He said he had found that the root cause of hate was injustice that is meted out to an overwhelming majority of people in the country.

He said the Backwards, the Dalits, the minorities, and the Adivasis together constituted about 90 percent of the country’s participation, and still their representation and participation in different sectors was nil or negligible. He said, whether it was the private corporate sector or the government, this “90 percent” section of the population remained marginalized and unrepresented.

Referring to the agitation by farmers, Gandhi said, they had one simple demand: that of getting legal status on MSP for various crops. He said the Modi government was refusing to grant legal status to the MSP. He said the Congress along with the INDIA bloc has already promised that once it forms the government at the centre, it will provide a legal guarantee for MSP.

Speaking on the occasion Yadav praised Rahul Gandhi for leading the yatra that has spread love and harmony in the country. He said, there could be no better city than Agra, which symbolizes love and harmony, saying Agra is the city of love.

The former UP Chief Minister alleged that the BJP was undermining the legacy of Dr Bhi ao Ambedkar by undermining the constitution and democracy. He said the biggest challenge was to save democracy and the constitution.

He pointed out how the BJP government was mistreating the farmers. He said the farmers were only demanding what the BJP had promised them. But now the same government was treating them as if they were enemies.

Yadav also criticized the UP government saying it had failed on all counts. He said that unemployment was at its highest. He said, there should have been maximum recruitments in the state, while there are none.

He alleged that the question papers of every recruitment test were being leaked and this was being done deliberately. He said the UP government did not have any intention to provide jobs to the unemployed youth hence it was getting the papers leaked and the recruitment exams cancelled.

Earlier, Priyanka Gandhi thanked and welcomed Akhilesh Yadav and other Samajwadi Party leaders and workers for joining the Yatra and adding strength to it. She expressed confidence that together the two parties will defeat the BJP.

UP Congress president Ajay Rai and many senior leaders were also present on the occasion.