‘BJP uses communal hatred to divert attention from real issues’, says RG as Bharat Jodo Yatra rolls into capital

News Network
December 24, 2022

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New Delhi, Dec 12: Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra rolled into national capital with the 'mohabbat ki dukaan' (shop of love) in a ‘nafrat ka bazaar' (market of hatred), covering around 2,800 km of the 3,570 km Kanyakumari to Kashmir walkathon, before taking a short break ahead of New Year but only after making some bold political statements.

The yatra reached Red Fort after covering around 23 km in the capital in the evening with Rahul addressing a 'Jan Sabha' with the iconic Mughal era monument from where the prime ministers address the nation on the Independence Day as the backdrop.

Rahul was to drive to memorials of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi as well as former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee, who belonged to his political rival BJP against which he has started the yatra, on Saturday but it has been rescheduled as the padayatra could not reach the destination on time due to “surging crowd”.

The choice of visiting Vajpayee’s samadhi, which usually the Congress leaders have avoided so far, is seen as an interesting move by Rahul, who has been projecting the yatra as one that is uniting the country against the spread of hatred by the BJP-RSS.

The yatra entered the capital in south-east Delhi Badarpur from Haryana’s Faridabad early morning and then moved towards Ashram where it had the morning halt. When the yatra resumed in the afternoon, it passed through Nizamuddin, India Gate, ITO, Daryaganj and finally touched Red Fort. In Nizamuddin, Rahul also visited the historic Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah while actor-politician Kamal Haasan joined him towards the end of the yatra.

At the Jan Sabha near Red Fort where Kamal Haasan was also present, Rahul said he has appealed to people to open ‘mohabbat ka dukan’ in ‘nafrat ka bazaar’ and now people have opened “lakhs of mohabbat ka dukan”. 

Like a pick-pocket who distracts one’s attention before the act, he said, the media is being used to distract people’s attention from real issues, as it benefits its owners. “I have walked 2,800 km now and I don’t see hatred among people. But when I watch TV, I see such stories. Hindu-Muslim, Hindu-Muslim…Why does the media spread hatred?...Your attention is diverted and your pocket is picked” he said.

He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “not in control” of his government. “This is not Modi’s government. This is Ambani and Adani’s government,” he said adding, “the Prime Minister cannot control. He is being controlled.”

Rahul said he was asked by the media whether he is feeling the winter chill but he thought that they would ask this question actually to the farmers, labourers and the poor.

In the morning session, Rahul was also joined by former Congress President and his mother Sonia Gandhi as well as his sister and party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, her husband Robert Vadra and their children. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge joined him at Red Fort.

Thousands of party workers and supporters joined throughout the yatra route, which adorned posters and party flags, by raising slogans ‘Bharat Jodo’ and ‘Rahul Gandhi Zindabad’.

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Agencies
March 26,2025

The airstrikes led by the United States have killed at least 25 civilians in Yemen over the past week, marking the deadliest week of bombing on the country since the final months of the Washington-backed Saudi war in January 2022.

In a report released on Tuesday, the Yemen Data Project said the 25 civilians were the victims of 38 US-led aerial assaults on March 15-21, adding that 28 people were also injured in the attacks.

The independent tracker also said that 21 out of the 38 US air raids hit non-military, civilian targets.

“Civilian targets hit included: a medical storage facility, a medical center, a school, a wedding hall, residential areas, a cotton gin facility, a health office, Bedouin tents, and Al-Eiman University,” it said.

The deadliest US strike in the first week of US bombing campaign struck a residential area in Yemen’s northwestern Sa'ada province, killing 10 civilians and wounding 11 others, among them children.

The US began bombing Yemen on March 15, a few days after Yemen resumed its operation against Israeli-linked ships in response to Israel’s Gaza aid blockade that violated a ceasefire with the Hamas resistance group.

The Yemeni Armed Forces began their anti-Israel naval campaign in November 2023, a month after the occupying regime waged a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

The Yemeni forces halted their attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians in January, when Israel accepted a three-phase Gaza ceasefire.

Two months later, however, Israel unilaterally broke the Gaza truce and resumed its brutal onslaught on the besieged territory.

On Tuesday, Yemeni media reported 17 US strikes on Sa'ada and two more on the nearby 'Amran province.

The reports said American warplanes carried out "aggressive air raids... causing material damage to citizens' property," but gave no details of casualties.

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News Network
March 27,2025

nandini.jpg

The Karnataka government has announced that Nandini milk will become ₹4 costlier per litre starting April 1, 2025. This is the second price hike this year.

The decision was made during a cabinet meeting led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Karnataka Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna and Animal Husbandry Minister K Venkatesh said the increase is meant to support dairy farmers by covering the rising costs of producing and processing milk.

Officials also said that:

>> The extra money from the price hike will go directly to the milk producers.

>> The earlier ₹2 price hike (announced on June 26, 2024) will be withdrawn.

>> The new price hike of ₹4 will apply to both 500 ml and 1-litre packets.

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Agencies
March 26,2025

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that he was not being given a chance to speak in the House which was being run in a "non-democratic style", and said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had made "unsubstantiated" remarks about him.

Gandhi's remarks came after Birla asked him to follow the rules of procedure that members are expected to observe to uphold the dignity of the House. It was not immediately clear what was the reason for the Speaker to make the observation.

The former Congress president said the Speaker made remarks about him and then adjourned the House without giving him an opportunity to speak.

"The Speaker just got up and left. He did not allow me to speak a word. He was speaking about me, and I don't know what he said about me, all unsubstantiated. I said, 'let me speak as you have spoken about me', but he did not say a word and just left. He adjourned the House when there was no need of it," the former Congress president said.

About 70 Congress Lok Sabha MPs, including deputy leader of Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, party general secretary KC Venugopal and party's whip in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore, met the Lok Sabha speaker and raised the "denial" of opportunity to Gandhi to speak in the House.

Speaking with reporters in Parliament House complex, Gandhi said there is a convention that the Leader of Opposition is allowed to speak, but whenever he gets up to speak, he is not allowed to speak.

"So, in what manner is this House being run? We are not being allowed to speak. I have not done anything, I was sitting quietly, I did not speak anything. In the last 7-8 days, I have not been allowed to speak," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

In a democracy, the opposition has a place, and the government has its own place but here there is no place for the opposition, he alleged.

Gandhi said he wanted to speak on Maha Kumbh last week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a statement on it but he was not allowed to speak.

"I wanted to state that it is good that Kumbh happened, and I wanted to speak about unemployment, but I was not allowed to speak. I don't know what thinking or approach does the Speaker have but the truth is we are not being allowed to speak. It (the House) is being run in a non-democratic style," Gandhi claimed.

Earlier, in his remarks, the Speaker said members are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that upholds the high standards and dignity of the House.

"Several instances have come to my notice where the conduct of members does not conform to the high standards," the Speaker said.

"In this House, father and daughter, mother and daughter, husband and wife have been members. In this context, I expect the Leader of the Opposition to conduct himself in accordance with Rule 349 that deals with rules to be observed by members in the House," the Speaker said.

"Especially, it is expected of the Leader of the Opposition to conduct himself as per the rules," the Speaker said.

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