Congress workers in Kerala carry gas cylinder cut-outs to protest rising LPG prices

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday, September 25, attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over rising fuel and cooking gas prices in the country, as the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra' completed its journey through Kerala’s Thrissur district. The Congress workers were carrying placards in the shape of LPG cylinders, highlighting the steep cooking gas prices in the country.

Addressing a crowd of party workers, Rahul also hit out at the BJP and RSS, saying that they were “attacking the idea of Kerala”. "What is the idea of Kerala? The people. While I am walking on these streets, people are flowing like a river on both sides. There is no Hindu, Muslim or Sikh person. They are all the same. Not a single person is disrespecting another.” The Congress resumed its Yatra from Wadakkanchery Sunday evening. Hundreds of party workers raised banners and placards, citing high gas prices.

The morning session of the 150-day-long Yatra covered a distance of around 11 kilometres before concluding at Wadakkanchery. Senior Congress leaders, including K Muraleedharan, KC Venugopal, Ramesh Chennithala, Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan and MPs from the district, among others, joined Gandhi in the Yatra. The Congress workers were carrying placards in the shape of LPG cylinders, highlighting the steep cooking gas prices in the country.

The former Congress chief said the idea of Kerala was taught by social reformer Sree Narayana Guru. "However, the RSS comes here, talks about Guruji, but later they insult and attack his ideas. In this land, everyone is treated equally. This was an idea taught by great leaders like Narayana Guru. And the RSS attacks Kerala because they work for a few people who want to own India," he said. Continuing his attack, Rahul said that there is no point in saluting the Indian flag if one is disrespecting the country's brothers and women. "There is no point in saluting the Indian flag and then attacking my brother... What is the point of saluting the Indian flag and then insulting a woman?

Earlier in the day, Rahul met ex-service men and discussed the issues faced by them. They expressed their concerns over the new Agnipath scheme introduced by the Union government. After concluding the morning session of the foot march at Wadakkanchery, Gandhi took a chopper to Nilambur and paid his respects at the residence of late Congress leader Aryadan Mohammed, who passed away on Sunday.

Rahul called the senior leader a pillar of the Congress and said that his demise was a great loss for the party. "He was a pillar for the Congress, a grassroots party worker and an excellent politician and even a better human being. It is a huge loss and a tragedy for us. For me, he was a guide and an elder brother. It is a personal loss," Gandhi told the media.

Earlier on Saturday, September 24, Rahul had launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the rise in fuel and cooking gas prices in the country, and charged that the BJP and the RSS were spreading hate and violence to distract the people from such main issues.

"A gas cylinder used to cost Rs 400 when the UPA government was in power. The Prime Minister went on complaining about the same. But today, he does not say a word about the Rs 1,000 price of gas cylinders," the Congress leader had said while addressing a massive crowd at Thrissur.

The Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra will cover 3,570 km in 150 days. It started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7 and will conclude in Jammu and Kashmir. The Yatra, which entered Kerala on the evening of September 10, will go through the state covering 450 km, touching seven districts in 19 days before entering Karnataka on October 1.