Congress leader and Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi on Thursday, 22 December, responded to calls from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and union ministers to suspend the Bharat Jodo Yatra amid concerns of rising COVID-19 cases, calling them "attempts to halt the yatra."
Gandhi's comments came just a day after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya wrote a letter to Gandhi, requesting him to suspend the yatra "in national interest."
What did Rahul Gandhi Say? In his address, Gandhi said: "The yatra will travel till Kashmir. Now, they (the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders) have come up with a new idea. They wrote a letter to me saying COVID is upon us, so stop the yatra. Excuses are being made to stop the yatra. Wear masks, stop the yatra...these are all excuses".
"They are scared of the strength and the truth of this country," he added while addressing a gathering in Nuh, Haryana.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also alleged attempts to stop the yatra by the BJP.
"Now that Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra is going to enter Delhi, they are saying that COVID-19 Omicron cases are increasing. The cases of the sub-variant detected were between August and November this year," he said, as quoted by ANI.