Congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrived in his former bastion Amethi on Saturday. This is Rahul Gandhi’s first visit to Amethi in 2.5 years after losing the Lok Sabha election from the seat in 2019.
Rahul Gandhi, along with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and state Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, will lead a 6 km-long padyatra (foot march) from Ramlila ground in Jagdishpur to Harimau. Around 50,000 Congress workers are expected to arrive for the padyatra.
Rahul Gandhi, who represented Amethi for 15 years, lost to BJP’s Smriti Irani by 55,120 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Before Rahul Gandhi’s defeat, the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency was considered to be the stronghold of the Gandhi family.
The Amethi parliamentary constituency has five assembly seats, four of which — Amethi, Jagdishpur, Salon, Tiloi — are with the BJP, while the Gauriganj segment was won by the Samajwadi Party in the previous election.
Addressing a rally in Amethi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, “Every lane in Amethi is still the same. Only that there’s anger against the government in people’s eyes. “
“In the hearts, there is space just like before. We are still united against injustice,” he added as he led the anti-inflation rally. “I came into politics in 2004. Amethi was the city where I contested my first election. People of Amethi have taught me a lot about politics. You have shown me the way to politics and I want to thank each and everyone.”
“A Hindu spends his whole life walking on the path of truth. A Hindu never succumbs to his fear – he faces all his fears. He never lets his fear turn into anger, hatred. But a Hindutvawadi only uses lies to stay in power. Mahatma Gandhi ji said a Hindu’s path is that of satyagraha,” said Mr. Gandhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also been frequenting the state over the last few weeks to launch several government projects months ahead of the polls.
The launch of all these projects just before polls, however, has also led to attacks from rivals.
Targeting the BJP government in the state and the centre, Rahul Gandhi, stepping up the attack, today spoke about PM Modi’s big Varanasi launch earlier this week. “You are aware of the situation today. Unemployment and inflation are the biggest questions that neither the Chief Minister nor Prime Minister will answer. PM Modi was taking a dip in Ganga a few days back but won’t talk about unemployment.”
“Middle-class people and the poor people were badly affected by some of the decisions taken by the PM, which also resulted in large-scale unemployment. Demonetization, GST, no help during the Covid crisis are the major reasons for unemployment in India.”
