As Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra gears up to enter Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday evening at Lakhanpur, former Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah is already there to receive him. Dr. Abdullah along with his National Conference leaders reached the Lakhanpur border on a bus from Jammu. The government has placed intense security arrangements in the area.
Talking to reporters at the venue, Dr. Farooq Abdullah said the yatra is for the communal harmony and brotherhood of India. He said the yatra would strengthen the unity in the country and a message of hope will go to the country from Kashmir.
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He said he would have walked with Rahul Gandhi from Kanyakumari. “But I am 90. Had I been young I would have walked with Rahul from Kanyakumari. His (Rahul) yatra is to end hatred.”
Rejecting criticism of the BJP about the Yatra, he said the party should understand that the yatra is for the unification of the country. “The day yatra will be taken for the elections, that day the BJP is at liberty to talk politics,” Farooq said. In fact, he said, the BJP should be part of this yatra.
He said Rahul Gandhi’s yatra is a huge step as top former Army and intelligence officers like General Kapoor and A S Dulat are participating in it. “Why are they joining the yatra? Because they see India is being divided. If we continue with politics of hatred we will not be able to save India,” Farooq said.
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He said he will not talk about statehood and Article 370 with Rahul Gandhi. “He is on the yatra for a different purpose. I will not talk on these issues with him,” he added.
He, however, criticized the BJP for not holding elections in Jammu and Kashmir saying the party is undermining democracy in Jammu and Kashmir. He said the delay in the elections is an attack on democracy. He said the ECI is under intense pressure from the government.
People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti and her daughter Iltija Mufti would also join the yatra.
“It is about reclaiming the legacy of this country that is the idea of India. For me, Bharat Jodo Yatra also means the legacy of Congress, and its long struggle to liberate this country and make it a democratic and secular country. And you know BJP wants to demolish this very legacy,” former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said.
“Rahul Gandhi’s yatra is aimed to save the social and communal harmony fabric of the country, which BJP wants to demolish brick by brick,” Mehbooba said. She added that the PDP will be part of the yatra.
