Knee pain, children, T-shirt, Rahul recollects anecdotes from Bharat Jodo Yatra

Rahul not wearing a jacket during winter was much talked about and he would attribute his decision to a chance meeting with a group of children, pushed into begging

Why does Rahul Gandhi have knee pain and how did he manage to finish the foot march? Why did he not wear a sweater during winter? What was his response to a leader who said that he shouldn’t have held 'unclean' children, who were begging on streets?

The former Congress president narrated some of his experiences and interactions he had with people during his 35-minute speech at the grand finale of the Kanyakumari to Kashmir ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ at the Sher-I-Kashmir stadium here.

Addressing a public meeting amid heavy snowfall, he said he initially was in no doubt about completing it as he used to run 8-10 km everyday and that he was fit. However, 5-7 days into walking, his knee had started paining, thanks to an injury he suffered during college days while playing football.

“There was no issue till now. I had forgotten about it. I started thinking whether I would be able to finish the foot march. An easy job was turning difficult. Somehow I finished this and learnt a lot. I suffered,” he said.

Read | Gave haters chance to change my T-shirt’s colour to red: Rahul Gandhi

Recalling a letter he received from a young girl who asked him to read it later, he said the girl had noticed that he had a problem in walking. In the letter, he said, the girl told him that she cannot join him in the walk till Kashmir as her parents won’t allow her and that in mind, she will be walking with him as he is doing it for her future.

“In that second, I felt that the pain was gone,” he added.

Rahul not wearing a jacket during winter was much talked about and he would attribute his decision to a chance meeting with a group of children, who were pushed into begging, during the yatra. He knelt down to them and chatted and found that they were shivering.

“Maybe, they did not have food. If they do not have a sweater, I also decided, I don’t need it,” he said. One of the leaders told him in his ears that he should not have hugged them and held them close, as they were not clean.

“I told him that the children were more clear than him and I,” he said.

Referring to his meetings with a lot of women, he said some of them were crying as they got emotional while meeting him but there were some others, who were rape victims.

“They told me that they were raped, molested by people, including their relatives. When I told them that he could tell the police about it, the women told him not to do so as that will cause more trouble for them. This is also true,” he said.