Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has warned that if the Rahul Gandhi-led “Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra” enters Guwahati, the Assam government will take legal action.
The Yatra began earlier in the day in Nagaland and will continue into Assam until January 25. It will pass through 17 districts and 833 km.
Mr. Gandhi attacked the ruling BJP and its ideological Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for “spreading hatred and looting public money” while speaking to a public meeting at Haloating in the Sivasagar district.
“If the Yatra takes place inside Guwahati city, the government will take legal action. There is a hospital and a school in the city, if Rahul Gandhi still takes a yatra from inside the city, we will register a case,” said the Chief Minister.
During a press conference, Congress General Secretary in Charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh asserted that the Himanta Biswa Sarma government is doing all within its power to ‘guarantee that Bharat Jodo Yatra is not a success’.
“We are in Assam till 25th January. The state government is making all efforts to ensure that Bharat Jodo Yatra is not a success here. Assam government posing hurdles to the yatra, but we have faith that all sections of Assam including youth and women will listen to what Rahul Gandhi has to say,” he said.
In keeping with the march, the Assam government started handing out forms on Thursday for a programme aimed at empowering 40 lakh members of Self Help Groups (SHGs) to become individual rural micro-entrepreneurs and support them in becoming ‘lakhpati baidews (millionaire elder sister)’.
The Congress claimed that the state administration scheduled the form distribution on dates that conflict with the state’s “Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra,” which is being led by Rahul Gandhi.
“It is Rahul Gandhi’s (yatra schedule) that is coinciding with our welfare dates (dates on which forms are to be distributed for a new scheme), not us who planned for this. These dates were declared even before we knew he was coming,” Mr Sarma said on Tuesday.
It is intended that the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ will travel 6,713 km in 67 days, visiting 110 districts across 15 states.
