‘BJP Created Atmosphere Of Hatred’: Rahul Gandhi As ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ Enters Alappuzha

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said the party has created an atmosphere of hatred and anger that is not in the DNA of the country.

Gandhi made the remarks while addressing the public on the 10th day of Congress’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in Kerala’s Cheppad on Saturday.

According to a report by news agency PTI, the yatra, which resumed shortly after 6.30 am, covered a distance of around 12km before entering Alappuzha district for a break.

It resumed at 5 pm and covered over 8 km before concluding for the day with a public meeting at Cheppad.

Senior Congress leaders Kodikkunnil Suresh, K Muraleedharan, KC Venugopal and Leader of Opposition in state Assembly VD Satheesan were present with Gandhi.

Earlier on Friday, Gandhi took potshots at the saffron party over the unemployment rate in India and alleged that the NDA government in the Centre was only interested in protecting a few businessmen in the country.

Taking a dig at BJP, the Congress leader said, “8 cheetahs have come, now tell me, Why didn’t 16 crore jobs come in 8 years? There is a challenge for the youth, they will get employment.”

Taking to Twitter, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote, “42 per cent of youth in the age group of 20-24 years are unemployed. Even before the pandemic, India had the highest unemployment rate in 45 years. For the past few years, youth have been celebrating September 17 as ‘National Unemployment Day’. #BharatJodoYatra Youth is moving in solidarity against the anti-Modi government.”

It is to be noted that the 3,570 km and 150-day long ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7 and is set to conclude in Jammu and Kashmir.

The foot march that entered Kerala on September 10, would traverse through the southern state covering 450 km over a period of 19 days before entering Karnataka on October 1.