MAJULI/LAKHIMPUR: As Congress‘ ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra‘ moved through Assam on its second day in the state on Friday, the party claimed that its first yatra, which had traversed from the south to the north, did not encounter as many problems while passing through BJP-ruled states as the second one is facing in this Northeastern state.
The party continued to level corruption charges against Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, with MP Rahul Gandhi, who helmed both the yatras, maintaining that CMs of other BJP-ruled states could take lessons on how to indulge in corruption from Sarma.
The ongoing yatra, which started from Manipur on January 14, will culminate in Mumbai on March 20. The first ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ was held from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in 2022-23.
The day’s journey commenced with ferry rides by Gandhi and his entourage over the Brahmaputra from Nimatighat in Jorhat district to Majuli, the world’s largest inhabited river island, in the morning.
Gandhi, addressing his first public gathering of the day in the predominantly tribal-dominated Majuli, alleged that the BJP wants to confine tribal people to forests, while claiming that Congress recognises the rights of ‘adivasis’ over resources as first dwellers.
“We call you advisasi which means the first dwellers. The BJP calls you vanvasi, which means people who live in forests,” Gandhi said.
He alleged the BJP, which leads a coalition government in the state, wants to confine the tribals to the forests, and deprive their children of the opportunities to go to schools and universities, learn English and run businesses.
“We want what is yours should be returned to you. Your water, land and forest should be yours,” Gandhi said, claiming that the BJP government was “taking away” the land of tribals across the country.
Gandhi said the first ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ was a successful one, which led people to urge for a similar march from east to west.
“That’s why we started this march from Manipur to Mumbai,” he added, asserting that it was a fight of ideologies with the BJP.
“We started in Manipur. BJP has burned Manipur. For months, a civil war-like situation is prevailing there with people killing each other. But the prime minister has not gone there once. In Nagaland, the PM promised an accord nine years ago but didn’t fulfil it. Here (in Assam), the chief minister is the most corrupt one,” Gandhi alleged.
Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his second public meeting in Gogamukh in Lakhimpur district, he claimed that the PM “cannot visit Manipur as it will expose the political reality of the BJP”.
He claimed that the BJP and RSS support the idea of governing the country from Delhi while the Congress supports local governance.
“The BJP and RSS believe that Hindustan should be governed from Delhi, with one language and one leader. We disagree. Assam will not be governed from Delhi; it will be governed from Assam,” he said.
Emphasising that the Congress values all states equally, Gandhi said that is why he initiated this march from Manipur in the east to Mumbai in the west.
For the second day in a row, Gandhi criticised Sarma and termed him the ‘most corrupt’ CM.
“The CM of Assam is so corrupt that he can give lessons to his counterparts of other BJP-led ruled states on how to commit corruption. The government works only for 2-3 millionaires. In Delhi, it works for Adani ji and in Assam, even that is not needed. The CM’s family is here for all the corruption,” he added.
Focussing on ‘corruption’ during the Yatra’s progress through the state, another Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said at a press conference in Majuli, “We highlight the most important issue of the people when the Yatra passes through a state. In Manipur, from where we started, it was the ongoing violence. In Nagaland, it was non-fulfilment of promises made for a final peace accord.
“In Assam, people told us that they are not getting jobs, prices are high but instead of solving these, the CM is indulging in corruption. That’s why the focus is on corruption,” the MP, who represents Assam’s Kaliabor in the Lok Sabha, claimed.
The party’s national general secretary, Jairam Ramesh, also at the same press conference, claimed that the party’s first Bharat Jodo Yatra from south to north had not faced as many problems while passing through BJP-ruled states as the second one is encountering in Assam.
“The first Bharat Jodo Yatra did not face so many difficulties even when passing through BJP-ruled states. The amount of difficulties we have faced in Assam in these two days, we have not faced anywhere,” he claimed.
“It is for the first time that within 24 hours, the CM has been rattled. We are being threatened with FIR and imprisonment. People are being prevented from joining the Yatra,” he claimed.
An FIR has been lodged in Jorhat on Thursday against the yatra and its chief organiser KB Byju for the entourage allegedly deviating from permitted routes in the town.
The chief minister has also warned of arresting two “bad elements” participating in the rally after the Lok Sabha elections if it reaches the state’s largest city Guwahati without permission. He, however, did not divulge the identity of his “targets”.
Ramesh asserted that ‘no power’ can prevent the yatra from completing its next six days of scheduled programmes in Assam, with the journey to continue through the state till January 25, travelling a total of 833 km across 17 districts.
During the day’s journey, the entourage sought blessings at the 300-year-old Sri Sri Auniati Satra, a Vaishnavite monastery, in Majuli.
The yatra, after a night halt at Gogamukh, will enter Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday and resume in Assam the next day with a public rally at Kaliabor on Sunday.