Congress Monday said that it was awaiting the “ground permission” from the Manipur government for launching its Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, for which it had applied about a week ago.
The AICC in-charge of Manipur, Girish Chodankar told reporters that the party leaders met the state chief secretary Vineet Joshi during the day and was told that the matter was with Chief Minister.
The chief secretary assured that they will be informed about the granting of the permission on Monday evening itself, he said.
But with no official communication as yet from the government, AICC general secretary K Venugopal told reporters during his visit to the spot from here the Yatra will be flagged off on January 14, that the BJP-led government in the state should give the ground permission for it “tonight itself.” Mr Venugopal said the Yatra is “nyay” (justice) for the youth, for women, farmers and poor people. “This is not a political yatra and no political motive is involved. This yatra is not connected with election preparations,” he asserted.
“Even if the permission is not granted, we would like a word on it,” Mr Chodankar said adding the party leaders met the chief secretary with no intention to politicise the issue.
He claimed, “We are actually trying to help the government to showcase to the world that Manipur is returning to normalcy. We are very hopeful there will be no politics over this yatra. The Manipur chief minister should understand the importance of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and think about Manipur first and not BJP politics.” Asked, the AICC general secretary said “We are starting this yatra from Manipur because the state needs justice (Nyay). The wounds which Manipur suffered must be healed,” Mr Venugopal added.
Manipur is in the grip of continued ethnic violence since May and over 180 people have been killed in it so far. Several hundreds have been injured.
“We applied to the Manipur government on January 2 itself for the ground permission for the launching of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra at Hatta Kangjeibung in Imphal East district on January 14, but it has not yet been approved so far. The AICC team met the chief secretary today to seek the ground permission for this rally at the earliest. We have apprised him that the rally will be peaceful,” Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Keisham Meghachandra said.
On January 14 several leaders of the party, including chief ministers and MPs from across the country will gather in Manipur for a peaceful rally. “The Yatra will be a huge national programme and a big message will be delivered from it”.
The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be launched from Imphal on January 14 and culminate on March 20 in Mumbai.
“We have to complete all the preparations as the party leaders will be coming from across the country for the Yatra,” Mr Chodankar said.
