New Delhi, Jul 8 (IANS): Congress MP and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi met flood victims in Assam and visited a couple of relief camps in Manipur on Monday.
Congress used the opportunity to lash out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and claimed that he didn’t pay a single visit to the strife-torn Manipur while Rahul Gandhi was heading to the state for the third time to assuage the concerns of people living in relief camps.
However, Assam Water Resources Minister Pijush Hazarika raised a red flag and also cautioned the media over the dissemination of a ‘fake agenda’ over Rahul Gandhi’s visit to refugee camps.
He stated that Rahul Gandhi didn’t visit any flood relief camp or any flood-affected areas in Assam, as was projected by some scribes and certain social media handles.
“Members of the media are requested to kindly verify WhatsApp forwards, social media information/propaganda before posting,” the Assam Minister wrote on X.
His warning came on the back of a tweet by a journalist Tamal Saha, who supposedly runs a YouTube channel.
“Rahul Gandhi with the victims of Assam Floods at Hmar relief camp in Fulertal in Assam. More than 70 people have lost their lives, lakhs rendered homeless,” the scribe posted, sharing photos of Rahul Gandhi with flood-affected families.
Today, Rahul Gandhi visited relief camps in Manipur’s Jiribram, and Churachandpur districts and interacted with the inmates there, displaced by the year-long ethnic violence.
Congress and its leaders have been sharing photos of Rahul Gandhi’s outreach to Assam flood victims as well as the displaced population of Manipur, highlighting how such a humane gesture was providing succour to people in distress.
However, what apparently led to this confusion or conspiracy, whichever way it is seen, is because of Rahul Gandhi’s itinerary shared by the grand old party’s X handle, this morning.
It clearly stated that the LoP would start off his visit to two states by first visiting a relief camp at Thalai, a youth care centre in Fulertal of Assam.
Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also left for a three-day trip to Russia and Austria this morning. Congress was quick to take a dig at the Prime Minister over this as Jairam Ramesh said, “Prime Minister goes to Moscow while Rahul Gandhi heads for Assam and Manipur.”