STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: The Bharat Jodo Yatra ended on Monday in an opposition show of strength with leaders of several parties joining Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as he capped his ambitious 145-day journey that covered some 4,000 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.
The skies over Kashmir opened up and the snow fell steadily through the morning, blanketing much of the Valley in white, as the former Congress president unfurled the tricolour at the yatra campsite and then went to the Pradesh Congress Committee office where party chief Mallikarjun Kharge hoisted the national flag. From there they went to the Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium at the foothills of the Shankaracharya Hills for a rally marking the grand finale of the cross-country yatra.
Rahul, Priyanka’s snowball fight at Srinagar
Srinagar: While politics, national security and talks around social harmony were in focus during the last leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi shared a fun-filled “beautiful” moment with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as they engaged in a snowball fight at a campsite here.
The Congress party shared videos and photographs of the siblings’ frolic snowball fight, and these went viral immediately.
As the snow fell steadily, carpeting much of the Valley in white, the former Congress president was seen in a video engaged in a playful snowball fight with his sister, and his close aide K C Venugopal.
“Sheen Mubarak! A beautiful last morning at the #BharatJodoYatra campsite, in Srinagar,” Gandhi tweeted with a video that captures the light moment — him sneaking towards his sister concealing two ice blocks behind, and managing to put them on her head.
The 36-second clip then shows Vadra chasing him and putting some ice on his head before they hug each other. In another video, Gandhi is seen trying his snowfighting skills on Venugopal too.
Earlier, Gandhi hoisted the national flag at the campsite here.
“I have not done this (yatra) for myself or for the Congress but for the people of the country. Our aim is to stand against the ideology that wants to destroy the foundation of this country,” Gandhi said.
Those on stage in a show of solidarity included leaders from the DMK, National Conference, People’s Democratic Party, Communist Party of India, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Indian Union Muslim League, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party.
Among the notable absentees of the 22 parties invited were the Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and JD(U).
Sources said some opposition party leaders could not make it on account of the weather. However, some leaders had also expressed their inability to be part of the rally on account of previous commitments.
In a speech that was in turn political and personal, Gandhi challenged the BJP top brass to undertake a yatra such as his in Jammu and Kashmir and said they would never do it as they were scared.
The Congress leader, who started walking on September 7 last year and crossed a dozen states and two Union Territories, said he was advised against walking the Jammu and Kashmir lap on the grounds that he might be attacked.
“I thought over it and then decided that I will walk in my home and with my people (in J&K)…. The people of Kashmir did not give me hand grenades, only their hearts full of love,” he said.
Undeterred by the heavy snow and cold, hundreds of people gathered at the stadium for the rally that some viewed as a turning point for the former Congress president who has long fought the “Pappu” image and may have finally come into his own, and possibly for the electorally battered Congress.
“When I was walking to Kashmir, I thought this is the same route through which, years ago, my relatives came from Kashmir to Allahabad. I felt that I was returning my home. Since I was a child, I have lived in government accommodations, I do not have a house,” Gandhi said. He also recalled the moments when he was informed about the assassination of his grandmother and father, former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
“Those who incite violence like Modiji, Amit Shahji, the BJP and the RSS – will never understand this pain. The family of an Army man will understand, the family of the CRPF personnel who were killed in Pulwama will understand, Kashmiris will understand that pain when one gets that call.” Congress president Kharge and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also spoke. “The yatra was not for winning elections but against hate. BJP people are spreading hate in the country. Rahul Gandhi has proven that he can unite the country from Kanyakumari to Kashmir on issues like unemployment and inflation,” Kharge said. “My brother has been walking for the last five months from Kanyakumari…. (people) came out everywhere. They came out because people of the country have spirit for unity,” added Priyanka Gandhi. Many opposition leaders endorsed Gandhi’s leadership and had words of fulsome praise. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti and NC’s Omar Abdullah, said they see a ray of hope in him.
“I request Rahul Gandhi to undertake a yatra from west to east. I would like to walk with him,” Abdullah added.