Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday, walked the 14km stretch leading to the Vaishno Devi shrine from Katra, a gesture the BJP called "token Hinduism". Gandhi is on a two-day visit to Jammu.
In a few videos posted by the Congress on its Twitter handle, the Congress leader is seen briskly walking alongside his security personnel.
Gandhi refused to talk politics with the reporters, saying "I have come here to offer prayers to the Mata. I don't want to make any political comments here."
According to news agency ANI, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir said Gandhi wanted to visit the temple for a few years, but the political situation was not conducive for a visit. “We have been asking Rahul Gandhi for the past three years. He also wanted to come, but the political situation was such that he cannot visit. Now that the situation has slightly improved, he visited Srinagar last month and will visit Jammu on September 9 and September 10,” he was quoted as saying.
Mir said Gandhi did not schedule any political engagements on the first day of his visit to Jammu as he wanted to spend the day visiting the temple.
On Friday, Gandhi will interact with party delegates at JK Resorts in Jammu's Trikuta Nagar from 11 am to 12.30 pm. After an interaction with the senior party leaders over lunch, he will return to Delhi by 3.30pm flight, Mir said.
This is Rahul Gandhi's second visit to Jammu and Kashmir within a month. He was in Srinagar on August 9 and 10, where he inaugurated the party's new office.
