Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath on Tuesday said the aim of Rahul Gandhi's ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra was to unite the country and there was no pressure on party workers to participate in the cross-country foot-march, whose route, he maintained has not been decided on the basis of the organisation's political strength or weakness.
The 3,570-km-long yatra, which began on September 7 from Kanniyakumari (Tamil Nadu) and will culminate in Srinagar early next year, is not merely a political event and its broader aim was to protect India's cultural diversity and the Constitution, he said.
“The yatra is moving through places that are coming between Kanniyakumari and Kashmir. While deciding the path of the yatra we had not thought about the party's strength or weakness in any area. Through this yatra we are talking about uniting the country,” Nath told reporters after reviewing preparations for the Madhya Pradesh leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
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The former chief minister informed that Gandhi, who is leading the yatra, wants to reach Kashmir by January 26, and the mass contact programme has been finalized by keeping that aim in mind. The yatra, which reached Maharashtra on Monday night, will enter Madhya Pradesh on November 20 in Burhanpur, he said.
It will be in Madhya Pradesh, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power, for 13 days and pass through different areas of the Malwa-Nimar region before entering the Congress-ruled Rajasthan, he said.
Nath claimed everyday one lakh people will participate in the foot-march during its Madhya Pradesh leg, but clarified there was no pressure on Congress workers to take part in the programme. "There is no pressure on any worker to take part in this historic yatra...we have not issued any directive to them to get associated with the yatra. Despite that, all party workers will join it with their heart,” the former Union minister said.
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Gandhi thought of launching the yatra as "our cultural and constitutional institutions are in danger," the former MP chief minister claimed. The Constitution drafted by Dr B R Ambedkar was later copied by several other countries, he said.
"But if the Constitution falls into wrong hands, what will happen?" Nath asked. Attacking the ruling BJP, the Congress veteran said the saffron outfit's government was “of suit, boot and loot” and added the state needs "vision and not television".
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his party BJP were busy in "politics of television" (apparently referring to they seeking media attention) and hoardings, and doing nothing for the state, he alleged.
(With PTI Inputs)
