Talking to mediapersons in Cooch Behar district after his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ entered West Bengal from Assam, Gandhi said, “The word ‘nyay’ (justice) has been attached to the yatra because injustice is prevailing across the country. The INDIA bloc will fight against this injustice.”
His remarks came a day after Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s announcement that her party will go alone in the Parliamentary elections in the state caused ripples in the Opposition bloc.
“I thank our leaders and workers here for the warm welcome. I am happy to be here. I am here to listen to the people of Bengal,” added Gandhi who was welcomed at Baksirhat in Cooch Behar by state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, party’s woman wing leader Pooja Roy Chowdhury, AICC member Biswajit Sarkar and others.
The former Congress president, who avoided commenting on the CM’s Wednesday remarks, was shown pro-Mamata Banerjee placards by some people claiming to be members of an organisation ‘Citizen Forum’ along the Yatra route. Some placards also attacked Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Congress leaders claimed these protesters were local TMC workers.
After the roadshow, Gandhi left for New Delhi in the afternoon and the Yatra proceeded to Falakata in Alipurduar for a two-day halt.
“Gandhi left for New Delhi from the Hasimara air base in Alipurduar on a special flight. He had some urgent work,” state Congress leader Subhankar Sarkar said.
“After the recess, the Yatra will resume on January 28. Gandhi will come back by then and join it,” he said. Then the Yatra will traverse through Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Uttar Dinajpur, and Darjeeling districts of West Bengal before entering Bihar on January 29.
The Yatra is scheduled to re-enter Bengal on January 31 via Malda and it will pass through Murshidabad before departing the state on February 1.
The Bengal leg of the yatra will cover 523 km across six districts and as many Lok Sabha constituencies — Darjeeling, Raigunj, North and South Malda, and two in Murshidabad — spanning five days. This is Gandhi’s first visit to the state since the April-May 2021 assembly polls.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh on Thursday said, “Our party is serious about an alliance against the BJP. Mamata Banerjee herself named the alliance ‘INDIA’. But it was Congress’ Adhir Chowdhury who attacked the TMC in the BJP’s language. The Congress should have invited us before they decided on their Yatra schedule in Bengal. It is a basic courtesy expected from an alliance partner. As Mamata Banerjee said the Congress is in a damage-control mode.”
— With PTI inputs