By Santosh Kumar Pathak
New Delhi, Oct 15 (IANS): Even as Rahul Gandhi is leading the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' to create an atmosphere against the BJP, the saffron party is claiming that the former Congress President is doing this "stunt" to avoid campaigns for the Assembly polls fearing defeat.
During the Yatra, Rahul Gandhi is continuously hitting out at the BJP government via tweets and statements, while the saffron party is also counter-attacking the Grand Old Party.
The BJP is saying that it is not a "Bharat Jodo Yatra but a Bharat Todo Yatra (not a Yatra to unite India but divide it).
Instead of trying to unite India, Rahul Gandhi should concentrate on uniting the Congress as frustrated and disappointed senior leaders of the grand-old party are quitting it one after another, the saffron party said.
In fact, the BJP is running a campaign from its official Twitter account under which it reminds people of the mistakes of the previous Congress governments and tries to make them understand that the party has always tried to divide people.
The question that arises in the wake of the Congress's attacks and the BJP's counter-attacks is that whether the Bharat Jodo Yatra is having any impact on the politics of the country.
Can Rahul Gandhi seriously pose a challenge to the BJP government through this Yatra? Even after not becoming Congress president this time, can this yatra increase the stature of Rahul Gandhi to such a level that the entire opposition accepts him as Leader of the Opposition?
Talking to IANS, BJP national spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam rejected all claims of the Congress in context of the Bharat Jodo Yatra and said that it will adversely impact the party.
Regarding Rahul Gandhi's leadership skills, Islam said that a leader is one who makes his party strong by focusing on it but everyone can see the Congress' situation.
Senior Congress leaders are leaving the party alleging lack of leadership, Islam said, adding that a leader who cannot unite his party, how can he unite the country?
The spokesperson said a leader always leads from the front but here we can clearly see that Rahul Gandhi is avoiding the campaigns for the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat Assembly polls fearing defeat.
Talking about continuous defeats faced by the Congress, Islam said to remain relevant in politics, the Congress should win polls, failing which its own leaders will make the country "Congress mukt".
Addressing party workers in Assam recently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said: "During Congress rule, there was a process of dividing India in northeast and the grand-old party witnessed it silently. For those who want to do Bharat Jodo (unite India), peace and development in the northeast is an example of how Prime Minister Narendra Modi united the country without giving a single speech."
On earlier occasions also, BJP leaders have clarified that the Yatra has nothing to do with the saffron party and it is an internal matter of the opposition.
Through this yatra Rahul Gandhi is trying to show leaders of other opposition parties like Nitish Kumar's JD(U), Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, KCR's TRS and Sharad Pawar's NCP that the Congress is a national party while their parties are regional one, the BJP claimed.
The BJP has termed this yatra as "Bharat Todo Yatra" and "Aag Jalao Andolan".