On Day 19, Bharat Jodo Yatra enters Palakkad district with ‘excitement and hope’

The yatris walked 14 km from Shoranur in the morning session, halting at Pattambi.

Abdulla Aboobacker, the Commonwealth silver medallist in the triple jump discipline, joined the yatra and walked along with Rahul Gandhi. The Bharat Jodo Yatra will continue till Tuesday evening in the district.

Made nation proud by clinching Commonwealth Silver medal in Triple jump event.
Now, Indian athlete Abdulla Aboobacker joins historic #BharatJodoYatra to unite the country. pic.twitter.com/VqIHo6RieB

— Congress (@INCIndia) September 26, 2022

Legal action against misinformation

On Saturday, Priti Gandhi a staunch supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, tweeted two pictures. The first picture was of a girl who had sloganeered “Pakistan Zindabad” at an event in Bengaluru, while the other picture was of a girl who joined the Yatra. The tweet implied that they were the same, and was captioned: “Look carefully. Not Bharat Jodo, this is Bharat Todo!!”. 

The tweet was deleted after it came in for severe criticism. On Monday, Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden filed a complaint against the tweets at the Palarivattom Police Station in the Ernakulam district.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted that so far legal action has been taken on five cases in which misinformation was peddled by “BJP leaders and their bhakt online hate factory to hurt #BharatJodoYatra [sic]”.

We have initiated legal action in 5 cases of fake and divisive news peddled by BJP leaders and their bhakt online hate factory to hurt #BharatJodoYatra. Be warned! We will not take this lying down.
Latest is a police complaint by MP @HibiEden against a particularly vicious bhakt pic.twitter.com/vubbTj0spT

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 26, 2022

The complaint stated that the impression these pictures gave was that Rahul Gandhi “was posing with an individual who had been accused of sloganeering ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ on a previous occasion”.

It added: “However, as was made clear almost immediately, the individuals in the photographs were two separate and distinct people.”

Eden’s complaint also alleged that the post was designed to create a dangerously false impression in the minds of the viewers regarding the Congress leader’s approach towards Pakistan and individuals involved in illegal sloganeering in support of Pakistan. He also alleged that the tweet tried to foment social tensions in the Bharat Jodo Yatra rallies led by Rahul Gandhi.

The complaint also accused Priti Gandhi of being a person who regularly engages in sharing misinformation, and recounted an earlier incident when she was summoned by the Punjab Police for her social media posts. 

“Her repeated attempts at spreading misinformation and creating enmity between groups clearly amounts to a conscious effort to create an atmosphere of communal tension and social disharmony, especially since she continues to share videos, images and information despite being informed that the same are either doctored or presented in a false context,” stated Eden in his complaint.

Rahul Gandhi meets Army veterans

At a press briefing by Congress leaders in Pattambi, former Congress MLA VT Balram told reporters about a meeting Rahul Gandhi held with ex-servicemen on Sunday at Wadakkanchery.

“Many social issues were raised by ex-servicemen, especially with regards to the ongoing Agnipath scheme of the union government. The veterans raised serious apprehensions about the future of the Indian armed forces and that the secular nature of the Indian armed forces could be challenged due to the scheme,” he said.

According to Balram, the Army veterans also raised their concerns about the “One Rank One Pension” scheme that was implemented by AK Antony during the tenure of the UPA government. He said that the ex-servicemen complained about the improper implementation of the programme.

Earlier on Sunday, Rahul Gandhi attacked the BJP and the RSS over rising fuel and cooking gas prices in the country. Congress workers carried placards in the shape of LPG cylinders to highlight the increasing cooking fuel prices in the country.

On Monday night, the Padayatra halts at Koppam in the Palakkad district. On Tuesday, the yatra will restart from the Pulamanthol Junction at 7 am.