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.
(Photo: Screengrab from the video)
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.
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.
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.
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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