New Delhi: The Assam leg of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra has been eventful, and the BJP state government visibly unsettled by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s decision to start the Yatra from the north-east. Gandhi has been unsparing about his views the Assam government and directly taking aim at chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.Sunday witnessed spectacular scenes with Rahul Gandhi taking time off to disarm a bunch of BJP supporters who met the Yatra. With the slogan, “The shop of love (mohabbat ki dukaan) is open for everyone, India will unite, India will win,” Gandhi can be seen, asking for the bus to stop, stepping down and joining the milling crowds, generating unusual images at a time of mostly perfectly orchestrated images. He can be seen blowing kisses at the group that had gathered with saffron flags.सबके लिए खुली है मोहब्बत की दुकान,जुड़ेगा भारत, जीतेगा हिंदुस्तान।🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/Bqae0HCB8f— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 21, 2024Rahul Gandhi later said in Nagaon, as per news agencies, that about 20-25 “BJP workers carrying sticks came in front of our bus, and when I came out from the bus, they ran away…they think that Congress is scared of BJP and RSS, they’re dreaming. They can tear as many posters and placards as they want, we don’t care. we are not scared of anybody, we are neither scared of PM Narendra Modi nor Assam CM”.Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that his vehicle was attacked at Jumugurihat in Sunitpur by “an unruly BJP crowd”.The Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge, was scathing about Sarma, when he along with Gandhi addressed a public meeting at Nagaon. Kharge said, “Nowadays in Assam, those who left us and joined BJP are the ‘new converted CMs’. They are threatening us. BJP people also attacked the Yatra and broke the glass panes of the vehicles. Poster/Banner also torn. If we don’t bow before the British, then how will we bow before the BJP? The CM here forgets that he himself is accused of countless scams, cases are registered under many sections.”He added, “Rahul Ji rightly said that the CM of Assam is the most corrupt Chief Minister of the country. If today they are being honest and clean, then it is only because of the wonder of Modi ji and Amit Shah ji’s washing machine.”Meanwhile, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has gone onto say that Rahul Gandhi should avoid visiting Batadrawa Than, the birthplace of Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankardeva, at the same time as the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. But Deccan Herald reports that the Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh maintained that Gandhi will visit the Than in Assam’s Nagaon district as planned and urged that ‘no politics should be done over it’.“The route of the Yatra was fixed three to four weeks before and as per the schedule, we will be in Nagaon on January 22,” Ramesh, who is with the Yatra, said at the press conference here on the way to the central Assam district.“We think it is imperative that we visit Batadrawa Than as we are passing through Nagaon. It is the birthplace of the great social reformer Srimanta Sankardeva, whose life continues to inspire crores of people even now,” he added. “There should not have been any dispute over it. No politics should be done over it,” the Congress leader asserted.He said Gandhi will visit the Than on Monday morning and then commence the day’s Yatra, during which he will travel through Morigaon district before entering neighbouring Meghalaya.The Yatra is set to return to Assam after a short trip in the neighbouring state.PTI reports that when asked why the Assam chief minister was edgy and prickly about the Yatra in its east to west journey, after having already logged an unprecedented south to north trip last year, Gandhi repeated, “They (BJP) are afraid, the (Assam) CM (Himanta Biswa Sarma) is afraid, and he is a corrupt person.”The Assam segment of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is from January 18 to 25.
