The yatra will cover 1,300 kilometers and will conclude with a mega rally in Patna on September 1
NEW DELHI – In the wake of Election Commission’s stubborn attitude towards “Special Intensive Revision” of voter list in Bihar, Congress party has decided to take out another yatra aiming to create awareness among voters.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is to lead the yatra and will begin his 16-day-long ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ from Sasaram in Bihar from Sunday, August 17. The ‘yatra’ will cover 1,300 kilometers and will conclude with a mega rally in Patna on September 1.
Disclosing this here on Saturday, party spokesperson and chairman of the Media and Publicity Department of the AICC, Pawan Khera, said that this ‘yatra’ will be yet another milestone in the country’s democratic history. “Whenever Rahul Gandhi has embarked upon such a march, democracy has turned a new page”, he remarked. Giving details, he said, besides the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, other partners of the INDIA bloc will also be part of the ‘yatra’.
Khera noted that the Special Intensive Revision had actually exposed the designs of the BJP to disenfranchise lakhs of voters belonging to the Dalit, Adivasi & minority communities, poor people and daily wagers. He alleged that it was a “conspiracy to not only steal our votes, but also steal our identity.”
“Today they will snatch the underprivileged people’s right to vote, tomorrow they will refuse them the share in government schemes like free food and housing”, he warned, while saying the conspiracy was much deeper.
Khera said, thanks to the people of Bihar, activists and the Congress and the INDIA bloc workers who raised their voice against the SIR, the Election Commission was forced to do the course correction. He said, it was only after the intervention by the Supreme Court that the Election Commission was compelled to address the concerns of the common people and voters.
Khera asserted that the Election Commission is becoming one of the “train bogeys” of the so-called “double engine.” It is not acceptable and the Congress will not let that happen, he said.
He said the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ was to ensure awareness and alertness among the people so that the Narendra Modi govt does not continue with its conspiracy to deny the voting rights to the people of Bihar.
