From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday declared that the Bharat Jodo Yatra he is heading will not be stopped just because Union Health Minister Mandaviya wrote to him to halt it if the Covid protocols are not being followed.
Addressing media hours after Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh suggested that sudden action regarding a Covid surge in the country is a ploy to disrupt the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ at Nuh in Haryana said that the BJP has come up with a new idea.
“They wrote a letter to me saying Covid is coming, so stop the yatra. Look, now excuses are being made to stop the yatra. Wear masks, stop the yatra…these are all excuses. They are scared of the strength and the truth of this country,” Rahul said
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had earlier written to Rahul Gandhi to ensure Covid “protocol” is followed in his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. Citing concerns after a spike in China, Mandaviya, in his letter on Tuesday, had “requested” Rahul Gandhi to suspend his yatra “in the national interest” if “protocol” could not be followed.
“I request [Rahul Gandhi] that Covid protocol, including use of masks and sanitisers, be strictly followed during the march and only those who are vaccinated be allowed to participate,” Mandaviya wrote.
The Health Minister doubled down on Wednesday, after Congress workers and leaders accused him of hypocrisy. “I cannot neglect my duty of stopping potential Covid spread just because one family perhaps believes it’s above the rules… No one is entitled to special treatment,” he said.
He claimed several people have caught the virus after participating in the yatra, citing Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu as an example.
The Congress has said, “We will certainly follow whatever protocols are put in place.”
India has the presence of a sub-variant of the Omicron variant, called BF.7, which is driving the new surge in China. Its four cases have been reported in India – the first one in July and the latest in November. Overall cases in India continue to be relatively meagre, at fewer than 200 daily for several days now.
While Covid is developing new variants and the world still has to come to grips with the disease, there was a sudden outburst of posts on the social media and WhatsApp groups which quoted Singapore Health Ministry declaring the latest variant BF-7 as the deadliest but these posts were found fake. Several governments issued advisory to its citizens for not panicking.
Sources said that growing popular response to the ongoing Yatra has rattled the establishment and the ruling party. Observers have clearly seen the IT cell of the BJP going hyper with its spokespersons like Sambit Patra and Amit Malviya trying their best to find some fault or the other to malign the mission. There have been reports that videos of Rahul Gandhi during the ongoing yatra are being doctored and photoshopped and put on the social media platforms to give a distorted and negative meaning to the mission.
The Congress sources said it is aware of the anti-campaign and has calculated all these risks. Rahul Gandhi’s message on Thursday is not an off-the-cuff response but rather a very well formulated stand taken after consultation with the health strategy and security experts.
