From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday refused to politicise the incident of Morbi bridge collapse in Gujarat.
In an interaction with the media in Kothur amid the Telangana leg of the #BharatJodoYatra, he said: “It’s disrespectful to politicise this incident so I am not going to do it.”
In a statement on the tragic collapse of the bridge in Morbi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge sent his condolences to the families of those who list their life and demanded a judicial probe into the criminal negligence in construction of the bridge. The Congress units in the state are providing all possible assistance, he said, urging the BJP government in Gujarat to provide immediate medical treatment to the wounded and search those still missing, besides providing appropriate financial help to the families of the bereaved and wounded.
On the election of Mallikarjun Kharge as the new party president, Rahul said: “The Congress Party has demonstrated that it is a democratic party by electing a President. I wonder when will RSS/BJP or TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi ruling in Telangana) will have an election. Because the Press always ask about democracy in our party, but they never dare to ask the BJP.”
He said the Congress is a democratic party that does not imposes dictatorship. “It’s in your DNA that we do not run the dictatorship,” he said.
In reply a question on the count of the castes in the country, Rahul said it was the Congress Party that came up with the socio-economic caste census. The census needs to be in the public domain. So that the people need to understand the make-up of the Indian population.
In reply to the people on their own joining the #BharatJodiYatra, Rahul said: “In case you hve not seen, there are many Congress people coming, many non-Congress people coming & even workers from other parties are coming to join this Yatra.”
Elaborating, he said: “The idea of this Yatra is to fight hatred and anger that the BJP is spreading. We are walking 3500 km across the country and inviting people and they are joining by the lakhs. This is a powerful way to demonstrate India’s true feelings and values.”
He described the #BharatJodoYatra as an ideology and a symbol, being presented with clarity against the ideology of the BJP.
In reply to another question, Rahul said: “A lot of damage has been done to the institutional framework of our country, through systematic attacks. People in the media know how the Press is being controlled and threatened. Even the Judiciary and the Bureaucracy are under attack.”
“We don’t want to deviate from our Yatra but the party’s action is already on in the Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh,” Rahul said, adding that Karge will decide his role in the party.
Asserting that the Congress is fighting the elections in Gujarat in full form, he said it is going to win the Assembly election ousting the BJP having its monopoly for so many years. There is an anti-BJP wave in Gujarat and hence he says the Congress is going to win the election there, Rahul declared.
In Himachal Pradesh that goes to polls on October 12, it is AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has taken the responsibility by organising rallies across the state with the senior state party leaders in place of her brother Rahul who is tied up with the Yatra.
She said the massive crowds at the Congress rallies show that the people want a change of power as they are fed up with the ruling BJP’s failed policies and bad intentions and corruption at all levels.
Notewithstanding Rahul’s diktat not to politicise the Morbi bridge collapse, Congress national spokesman Pawan Khera held a press conference to raise an accusing finger at the BJP government in Gujarat. He asked three straight questions: Was the bridge given the fitness certificate? Where is its audit report? and was the weight capacity of the bridge examined?
Khera was also joined by other senior Gujarat leaders, who want to take advantage of the tragedy in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state that are expected to be announced later this week. They asserted that they cannot spare the BJP government who should owe its responsibility for the ghastly mishap.
They do not want to spare taking advantage of the tragedy, particularly coming so soon before the state Assembly elections that are expected to be announced later this week.
