Hugging me not a security breach, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on January 17 said there was no security breach during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur.

Gandhi’ statement came after a man attempted to hug him during the Yatra on January 17, but he was pushed away by Congress workers.

“Someone coming to hug me in excitement is not a security lapse. There is a lot of enthusiasm in this Yatra and it happens. Security people had checked him,” said Rahul Gandhi.

While addressing the media on the last day of Yatra in Punjab, he said the march has been successful to a larger extent to spread the message of love and compassion against the hatred in India.

“Before 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP will try its best to divide people and spread hatred, but we will continue to open the shops of love,” said Rahul Gandhi.

Gandhi also accepted there was anti-incumbency against his party in Punjab in the last elections because of which Aam Aadmi Party was able to form the government.

“I don’t hesitate to say there was clear ant-incumbency against us in Punjab and infighting among the party leaders. These are the factors that helped Aam Aadmi Party. Now, things have changed on various fronts and Congress will form its next government in the state,” said Gandhi.

The former Congress president also talked about his relationship with the BJP leader Varun Gandhi, saying he won’t mind meeting him, and hugging him, but both are ideologically poles apart.

“If Varun Gandhi walks with me in Bharat Jodo Yatra, it will create troubles for him. Ideologically, we both are different. I may meet him or hug him, but no compromise on ideology,” said Gandhi.

Reacting to BJP’s statement that it will win all nine state assembly elections in 2023, Gandhi said, “There is economic distress in the country and it will affect the BJP. It is abundantly clear.”

The Bharat Jodo Yatra has almost completed 3,200 kilometres after it started from Kanyakumari on September 7, 2022. The Yatra will be entering Jammu and Kashmir on January 20 and culminate on January 30 in Srinagar.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has invited presidents of 23 like-minded parties to participate in the concluding ceremony in the Valley.