Amid unprecedented security arrangements, Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jhodo Yatra will enter Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday evening.
The J&K Congress leaders workers are ecstatic and hundreds are eagerly waiting to join the Yatra. Senior leaders of the regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir, the NC, the PDP, CPI(M) and smaller parties like Dogra Swabhiman Sangthan (DSS) Chaudhary Lal Singh and others are joining the Yatra in Jammu.
Farooq Abdullah, NC leader and MP, joined the yatra when it was passing through Uttar Pradesh. Rahul will be received at Lakhanpur in Jammu’s Kathua district by Congress leaders Abdullah and Singh and others.
The Yatra will reach Lakhanpur after crossing neighbouring Punjab at 6.30 pm.
Singh’s participation has become controversial due to his support to 2018 perpetrators of rape and murder of an eight-year-old nomad girl in Kathua. He was then a BJP leader.
Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, Deepika Pushkar Nath, Congress spokesperson in Jammu and Kashmir, said she was resigning from the Congress due to the inclusion of Singh in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. “In view of Ch.Lal Singh's proposal of joining @bharatjodo & @INCJammuKashmir allowing the same, I am left with no other option but to resign from @INCIndia. Lal Singh was responsible in sabotaging the Kathua rape case in 2018 by brazenly defending rapists,” said Deepika on Twitter . She said that she stands by the Kathua rape victim’s family. The party’s chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said the top leadership of the party has taken note of it and will decide on it.
He said the stand of our party on the rape and murder case is crystal clear as we stand with the family of the victim and have always favoured a fair probe to bring the culprits to book.” The party has not invited Singh to join the Yatra, he said. He said Singh expressed his willingness to be a part of the Yatra. “We have welcomed everyone who accepts the ideology of Gandhi,” he said.
Omar Abdullah of the NC has also opposed Singh’s participation in the Yatra.
“The Congress will have to look into whether some people might try to use the Yatra to whitewash their past,’’ he said . “We have not forgotten the role played by those leaders who tried to save the rapist. The way they hurt the sentiments of people is not hidden from anyone,” Abdullah told reporters.
At Lakhanpur, JKPCC president of Punjab will hand over the tricolour to JKPCC Chief Jammu and Kashmir, followed by a public address by Rahul.
Security has been heightened for the peaceful conduct of the event and senior Congress leaders as well as top police officers are camping at Lakhanpur.
On Wednesday, Additional Director General (ADGP) of Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh convened a high-level meeting with senior Police officers and Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Ramesh Kumar for discussing the security arrangements of the Yatra. The meeting was attended by DIGs, District SPs, SSP Security and Traffic SPs, the ADGP issued necessary instructions for foolproof security and smooth conduct of the yatra. An alert was also sounded along the Jammu-Pathankot Highway and the border areas along the International Border in view of the scheduled Yatra and Republic Day celebrations. Additional deployment of J&K Police and paramilitary personnel has been made all along the scheduled route of the yatra from Lakhanpur.
After the night halt at Lakhanpur, the Yatra will proceed further towards Hatli Morh in the morning. At Chadwal in Hiranagar, Gandhi will meet public delegations for two days. On January, the yatra to Duggar Haveli and reach Vijaypur and then to Satwari Chowk on January 23 where a rally will be held. On January, the Yatra will start from Sitlee ByPass Nagrota near Toll Gate and reach near Army Gate Rehambal at 2 pm from where it will proceed further for a night halt at Ramban.
On January 25, Rahul Gandhi will start Yatra from Maitra Ramban in the morning and will reach at Lamber Banihal and address a meeting at 4 pm. On January 26, he will take rest and enter the Kashmir valley on January 27 via Jawahar Tunnel. He will then travel to Dooru in Anantnag in south Kashmir before reaching Srinagar on January 30 where the Yatra will conclude with a mega rally at Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium which will be attended by leaders from opposing political parties including PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, the father-son Abdullah duo
AICC General Secretary and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said that Rahul Gandhi may curtail the distance on foot during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir keeping in view the security concerns.
“Rahul Gandhi would undertake padyatra in Jammu and Kashmir but there would be no compromise with security. We are having a consultation with the UT authorities regarding the security and maybe the distance on foot could be curtailed,” he said while addressing a press conference at Shimla on the sidelines of the Yatra which entered Himachal Pradesh this morning.
