Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Assam, Friday, Jan. 19, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
North Lakhimpur: The Congress alleged that banners and posters welcoming its Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to Assam's North Lakhimpur town, through which it will pass on Saturday, have been vandalised.
The Yatra, led by Rahul Gandhi, is on its third day's journey in the state and will pass through several parts of Lakhimpur district, including the headquarters town North Lakhimpur, before entering Arunachal Pradesh later in the day.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) leader Bharat Narah alleged that most of the banners, posters and hoardings within the North Lakhimpur town area were damaged on Friday night.
"Alarmed at the success of the Yatra, all hoardings and posters have been torn down by miscreants...Never in the political history of Assam had we witnessed rival political parties damaging banners and posters of the other parties," the former minister and MLA, who represents Naoboicha constituency in the state Assembly said.
Narah, who heads the media committee of APCC, also alleged that the BJP-led state government has been creating hurdles for the Yatra, including trying to prevent people from participating in it.
"We have reports that batteries of boats were removed. Fuel depots have run dry to ensure that people cannot come with their vehicles," he said.
But nothing can prevent the success of the Yatra, the Congress leader asserted.
The party also shared a video of miscreants purportedly tearing down posters with Congress leaders' photos in North Lakhimpur town at night.
The veracity of the video could not be independently verified by PTI.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Jairam Ramesh, at a press conference in Majuli on Friday, had claimed that the party's first Bharat Jodo Yatra from south to north had not faced as many problems while passing through BJP-ruled states as the second one is encountering in Assam.
"The first Bharat Jodo Yatra did not face so many difficulties even when passing through BJP-ruled states. The amount of difficulties we have faced in Assam in these two days, we have not faced anywhere," he claimed.
Adding that the CM has been rattled, Ramesh, who is accompanying Gandhi in the Yatra said, "We are being threatened with FIR and imprisonment. People are being prevented from joining the Yatra."
The first Yatra, also led by Gandhi, had travelled from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in 2022-23.
The Nyay Yatra, being conducted on bus and foot, is scheduled to cover 6,713 km in 67 days, passing through 110 districts in 15 states. It will travel through Assam till January 25, travelling a total of 833 km across 17 districts.