As Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra traverses through Haryana on its 107th day, before it enters national capital Delhi on Saturday, 24 December, The Quint caught up with senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala. The Rajya Sabha MP said that the yatra is a bugle against unemployment, price rise and hate.
"The yatra is a game changer, not for the Congress party, not for Mr Rahul Gandhi but for the people of this country. For this is a yatra to decisively raise a bugle against the rampant unemployment in India. This is also a yatra against the massive price rise which has broken the back of common people. This is also a yatra to fight hate and division."– Randeep Singh Surjewala
He also charged the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of playing divisive politics and said issues like price rise affect all.
"I ask a simple question to an important news point like you, when you sell a gas cylinder and raise its price from Rs 400 to Rs 1,200, do the Hindus not pay that price? Or Muslims alone do? When cooking oil sells at 200 rupees a litre, do Hindus not pay for it or only Muslims pay for it?" he asked.
The leader from Haryana also claimed the Narendra Modi-led government was trying to use COVID-19 as an excuse to stop the yatra.
Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya had written a letter to Gandhi asking him to suspend the yatra if the COVID-19 protocols were to be not followed. Gandhi had called it an excuse to stop the yatra.
Surjewala called the government's rhetoric a lame duck ploy.
"They are scared of Mr Rahul Gandhi, they are scared of the response Bharat Jodo Yatra is getting. It has actually become a Jan Andolan, it's a people's movement. It's no longer a Congress party movement. Yes, there are a lot of Congress people but it's a people's movement. People from all shades, people who used to criticise us, people who were bitterly opposed to us, they all have joined hands for the sake of the nation. And that's why the BJP is running helter-skelter and is scared."– Randeep Singh Surjewala
He accused the BJP of hypocrisy as the new variant was detected in July and the elections for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh were held in October.
"Even the director of AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) has gone on record to say that the new variant came in July, it became prominent in October and has petered out. And our vaccines are effective against it. So why were you holding elections in Gujarat when you knew the new variant was at its peak in October? Why were you holding elections in Himachal (Pradesh)? Why was the prime minister doing all the rallies? Why does the BJP continue to hold their programmes? It's a lame-duct ploy to somehow stop the yatra."– Randeep Singh Surjewala
He also said that if the government is serious about the danger of coronavirus, it should stop the flights from China where there is a recent surge in cases. "They don't want to stop China's flights but they want to stop Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra. That should tell you the malintent of these people," he stated.
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