Until I shiver, I won't wear sweater: Rahul Gandhi on using T-shirt amid winter chill
Chandigarh (PTI): Amid talk raging about his wearing a T-shirt despite the winter chill during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said he decided to wear only T-shirts during the march after meeting three poor girls "shivering in torn clothes" in Madhya Pradesh.
"People ask me why I am wearing this white T-shirt, don't I feel cold. I will tell you the reason. When the yatra began... in Kerala, it was hot and humid. But when we entered Madhya Pradesh, it was slightly cold.
"One day three poor girl children in torn clothes came to me...When I held them, they were shivering as they were not wearing proper clothes. On that day, I took a decision that till the time I do not shiver, I will only wear a T-shirt," Gandhi said, while addressing a street corner meeting in Haryana's Ambala this evening.
Gandhi said that he wants to give out a message to those girls.
"When I start shivering, then I will think of wearing a sweater. I want to give a message to those three girls that if you are feeling cold, then Rahul Gandhi will also feel cold," he said.
During Uttar Pradesh-leg of the yatra, the Wayanad MP had last week said that the media is highlighting his attire but taking "no notice of the poor farmers and labourers walking along with him in torn clothes".
"My being in T-shirt is not a real question, the real question is why are the farmers, poor labourers of the country and their children are in torn clothes, T-shirts and without sweaters," he had said in Bhagpat.
On Monday, Gandhi also targeted PM Fasal Bima Yojana and said when crops are destroyed due to vagaries of weather and other reasons and affected beneficiaries go to seek compensation, they come to know that the company is nowhere to be found.
Citing newspaper reports, the former Congress chief further said in Himachal Pradesh, entire apple trade is in the hands of one industrialist. "If you go to Jammu and Kashmir, again entire apple trade in the hands of same industrialist," he said.
Touching upon farmers who protested against now repealed central farm laws, Gandhi said Congress party raised demand in Parliament that "700 farmers had died during stir against farm laws, at least acknowledge their sacrifice and give them martyr status, but government does not accept they had died".
Currently, the march is passing through Haryana.
The yatra, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, will end after reaching Srinagar on January 30 with Gandhi hoisting the national flag there.
The march has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
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What was the need to disrespect 82-year-old leader: Priyanka slams PM
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of disrespecting Mallikarjun Kharge by not replying to the Congress president's letter himself, and said it is unfortunate that leaders in the highest positions have rejected great traditions of democracy.
The Congress general secretary said today's politics is full of poison and the prime minister should have set a different example, keeping the dignity of his post in mind.
On Tuesday, Kharge had written a letter to the prime minister and raised the issue of "extremely objectionable" and violent statements by the ruling alliance members targeting Rahul Gandhi, urging him to discipline his leaders.
In response to Kharge's letter to Modi, BJP chief J P Nadda wrote to the Congress president and cited his party's own litany of complaints against the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and other Congress members for their choice of words against the prime minister.
In a post in Hindi on X, Priyanka Gandhi said that in view of the unrestrained and violent statements of some BJP leaders and ministers, Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Kharge wrote a letter to the PM, concerned about the safety of the life of Rahul Gandhi.
"If the Prime Minister had faith in democratic values, balanced dialogue and respect for elders, he would have himself replied to this letter.
Instead, he got a low-level and aggressive reply written by Nadda ji and sent it," she said.
What was the need to disrespect an 82-year-old senior public leader, Priyanka Gandhi asked.
"The tradition and culture of democracy is to ask questions and have a dialogue. Even in religion, no one is above values such as dignity and etiquette," she said.
"Today's politics is full of poison, the Prime Minister should have set a different example, keeping the dignity of his post in mind," Priyanka Gandhi said.
If the PM had respectfully replied to the letter of a senior politician, his image and dignity would have increased in the eyes of the public, she said.
"It is unfortunate that our leaders in the highest positions in the government have rejected these great traditions," Priyanka Gandhi said.
The Congress on Thursday had said Prime Minister Modi must rise above "petty politics" and condemn the actions of the ruling alliance leaders, who targeted Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
The opposition party had asserted the whole world is watching how the ruling BJP is "putting the life of the Leader of the Opposition in danger".
The assertion came in a letter by AICC general secretary in-charge Jairam Ramesh to Nadda in response to the BJP chief's letter to Kharge earlier.
The opposition party has slammed as "intemperate" and "juvenile" Nadda's reply to Kharge on his letter to Prime Minister Modi flagging "threats" aimed at Gandhi.
