TSIT ■ Hyderabad : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, November 1, unfurled the national flag in front of the iconic Charminar in Hyderabad, over 32 years after his father and then party chief Rajiv Gandhi had started the ‘Sadbhavna Yatra’ from the same spot. Rahul unfurled the tricolour amidst a massive crowd. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, senior leader Digvijaya Singh and Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief Revanth Reddy were among those present at the event.
Rahul arrived at Charminar amid loud cheers and “Bharat Jodo” slogans with a sea of national as well as party flags dotting the road leading up to the Charminar. The Gandhi scion also paid floral tributes to his father Rajiv Gandhi’s photograph on the stage. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the spot where Rahul Gandhi unfurled the tricolour was the same at which Rajiv Gandhi on October 19, 1990, started the ‘Sadbhavna Yatra’.
Every year on that day, the Congress has raised the national flag here, he said, adding that this time they could not do it on October 19 so they were doing so Tuesday. The ‘Sadbhavna Yatra’ was taken out by Rajiv Gandhi amid the BJP’s rath yatra to Ayodhya, and soon after the VP Singh government announced the implementation of 27% reservation for OBCs as per Mandal Commission recommendations. The Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed from Matha Temple in Shamshabad Tuesday morning and halted at the Legacy Palace at Bahadurpura in Hyderabad for an afternoon break. The yatra’s night halt will be at Gandhi Ideology Centre in Bowenpally.
Earlier on Tuesday, Rahul was joined by Radhika Vemula, the mother of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student of the University of Hyderabad who died by suicide in 2016 due to caste discrimination on campus. Radhika Vemula walked with Rahul briefly during the morning leg of the Yatra.
“Extended solidarity to Bharat Jodo Yatra, walked with Rahul Gandhi, and called upon Congress to save Constitution from BJP-RSS assault, Justice for Rohith Vemula, passing Rohith Act, increasing representation of Dalits, oppressed sections in higher judiciary, education for all,” Radhika Vemula tweeted after the meeting.
