Won't allow BJP to turn 'Garden of Peace' into lab of hatred, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that his party would not allow Karnataka (garden of peace and harmony) to be turned into a laboratory for the BJP’s experiments with hatred and misgovernance.

In a statement issued in English and Kannada separately on the last day of the Karnataka leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi quoted Rashtra Kavi Kuvempu who described this beautiful land as ‘a garden of peace and harmony for all’.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Telangana on Sunday after completing the Karnataka leg at Yermarus in Raichur district, where Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, D K Shivakumar handed over the party flag to Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Revant Reddy.

“These words have been reaffirmed through the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The people of Karnataka have responded to the Yatra with an outpouring of support, for which we extend our heartfelt thanks and gratitude,” he said in his letter addressed to people of Karnataka.

Observing that the erosion of social harmony and the public sector is paralysing economic progress and hitting the poor and vulnerable the hardest, he said, “The Congress party will not allow this ‘garden of peace’ to be turned into a laboratory for the BJP’s experiments with hatred and misgovernance,” he said.

“Through the untiring efforts of our state leaders, drawing on the rich cultures of Karnataka, and the support of crores of Kannadigas, that day will soon come when we will unleash Karnataka’s true potential through the path of love, peace and harmony,” the former AICC president said.

Rahul alleged that the state that once spearheaded India’s growth story is now known all over for the ‘40% Commission’ government that exemplifies the BJP’s model of “suit, boot, loot sarkar.”

“Corruption at an unprecedented scale - pay for jobs, pay for contracts, pay for public services, there is nothing that is not up for sale for the BJP in Karnataka.” he said. Rahul said BJP had gone against the teachings of Basavanna in Karnataka.

In Karnataka leg, Rahul’s Yatra traversed from the outskirts of the Bandipur forest in Chamarajanagar, through Mysuru, Mandya, Tumakuru, Chitradurga and Ballari districts and finally concluding at Raichur, while crossing the Kaveri, Tungabhadra and the Krishna rivers in 22 days covering more than 500 km.

(With PTI inputs)