Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has expressed his happiness over the Bharat Jodo Yatra reaching Jammu and Kashmir, calling it his homecoming.
"It is a great pleasure to reach Jammu and Kashmir as I go back to my home, where my ancestors had their roots. I am learning about and understanding more of me, every state, my country," Rahul tweeted on Thursday night.
The Yatra, which is on its final leg, entered the state at Kathua's Lakhanpur area via Pathankot-Punjab amid chants of "Nafrat Chodo Bharat Jodo" (Leave hatred and unite India),
Congress workers and supporters were seen carrying torch lights and party flags as the Yatra entered the state. The Yatra will spent next 10 days in the Union Territory before it ends in Srinagar on January 30.
In a customary handover function, Punjab's Congress unit gave the party flag to a leader from the Jammu and Kashmir wing. "The BJP and RSS have spread hatred. I earlier thought it ran deep but it does not and is mainly seen on television," Gandhi said in his first stop in Jammu and Kashmir, about 90 km from Jammu. He listed hatred, violence, unemployment and price rise as the main issues confronting the country and blamed the media for not highlighting them.
National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah too attended the function with Rahul. Welcoming him, Abdullah drew a parallel between the Shankaracharya and Rahul Gandhi. "Many years ago, Shankaracharya had undertaken a yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. And today you are doing it," the MP said here.
He said that today's India is not that of Ram's Bharat or Gandhi's Hindustan because people are divided on religion. "If we are together, we will be able to overcome the hatred of the present day," he said.
Abdullah also expressed his wish as he said he wanted to see "secular Hindustan again where everyone is respected" before he "closed his eyes."
Jairam Ramesh, Ashok Gehlot, Digvijay Singh, Abdullah, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party and former minister Lal Singh and Awami National Conference leader Muzaffar Shah were also there to welcome the yatra.
Tight security
As the yatra reaches Jammu and Kashmir, 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. Additional Director General (ADGP) of Jammu Zone Mukesh Singh had convened a high-level meeting with senior Police officers and Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Ramesh Kumar for discussing the security arrangements 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.
