Media notices my T-shirt, but ignores poor farmers, labourers in torn clothes: Rahul Gandhi
Baghpat (UP), Jan 4: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the purpose of party's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' is to remove fear from the people's minds and highlight issues like price rise and unemployment.
Amid raging talks about his wearing T-shirt in the winter during the yatra, Gandhi said the media is highlighting his attire but "taking no notice of the poor farmers and labourers walking along with him in torn clothes".
Addressing a 'nukkad sabha' (street corner meeting) at Baraut on Baghpat-Shamli border during the yatra, Gandhi said despite covering a distance of more than 3,000 kms on foot in 110 days, he is neither feeling tired nor sizzling in the cold in T-shirt.
Taking potshots at the media, he said, "I call them 'mitra' (friend) but they are not performing the duty of a friend as they do not raise the real issues out of fear of their bosses."
"Since the media is not highlighting the issues of people, we thought of raising matters relating to demonetisation, wrong GST, price rise, unemployment in the Parliament, but there the mike was switched off. So we thought let's walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, listen to the people," the former Congress chief said.
He said the focus of the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' is to remove 'dar' (fear) from the people's minds and raise the issue of price rise and unemployment.
After a brief address at the meeting, Gandhi left for Delhi.
The UP leg of 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' will resume Thursday morning from Shamli from where it will enter Haryana.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which started from Kanyakumari on September 7, will end with the hoisting of the national flag by Gandhi in Srinagar on January 30.
Over the 108 days, the march has covered 49 districts in nine states and one Union Territory Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi.
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Have spoken with Railways, Dadar Hanuman temple won’t be demolished: BJP leaders
Mumbai, Dec 14: A day after Uddhav Thackeray slammed the BJP over a demolition notice issued by the Railways to a temple outside Mumbai’s Dadar station, ruling party leaders claimed on Saturday that they have got it stayed.
BJP legislator Mangal Prabhat Lodha said the Dadar Hanuman temple will be protected.
Lodha visited the shrine near Platform No. 12 at Dadar East, adjacent to the Central Railway station. He interacted with the temple trustees and joined the ‘aarti’.
MLA Kalidas Kolambkar and members of Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad were also present at the temple.
Lodha said he had spoken with Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and an order has been issued to halt the demolition.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Thackeray on Friday claimed that Railways had issued a ‘fatwa’ (edict) to bring down the 80-year-old Hanuman temple built by porters. Taking a dig at the BJP’s “ek hai to safe hai” slogan, he said even temples are not safe in the saffron party’s regime.
After his temple visit, Lodha, who represents the Malabar Hill assembly constituency in the city, told reporters that the BJP-led governments at the Centre and Maharashtra listen to the concerns over Hindutva and that of the people.
“We understand the sentiments of the Hindu community regarding this temple, and I assure you that no harm will come to this sacred place. Since we learnt about the situation, BJP leaders, and Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad workers have all been in contact with railway minister Vaishnaw,” he said.
The BJP leader said they have made every effort to protect the temple and would continue to do so.
“Any attempt to politicise religious sentiments has been thwarted before it could succeed, and we have successfully saved the temple,” he asserted.
In a notice dated December 4 to the trustee/pujari of the temple, the Railways said the structure was an encroachment and constructed without authorisation on land owned by it.
These structures are affecting the movement of commuters and vehicular traffic. It is also obstructing the construction of infrastructure works at Dadar station, it said. The Railways had given a seven-day notice for the removal of the structure.
Lodha said the notice has been stayed.
His party colleague and former MP Kirit Somaiya also visited the temple. He told the trustees that the railway officials had assured him the temple wouldn’t be demolished.
Attacking Thackeray, Somaiya told reporters that those who put devotees of the deity in jail for chanting ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ eventually have to surrender before Lord Hanuman, referring to the arrest of former MP Navneet Rana in Mumbai two years ago.
“He has accepted Sajjad Nomani, Ulema board, Marathi Muslim Seva Sangh and ‘vote jihad’ and should stay committed to them,” Somaiya said.
Meanwhile, former Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale said he has written to Vaishnaw citing that a similar notice was issued a few years ago and was stopped after his intervention. He urged the Union minister to find a permanent solution to the matter saying that the temple is very popular among locals.
