DSSP, Shiv Sena to join Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra in J-K

Jammu, Jan 11 (PTI) Extending support to Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party and the Jammu and Kashmir unit of Shiv Sena Wednesday announced they will join the march when it enters Jammu and Kashmir next week.

A DSSP spokesperson said that at a meeting, the party unanimously decided to accord a warm welcome to the Bharat Jodo Yatra on reaching Kathua district from Punjab on January 20.

The DSSP was formed by former minister Choudhary Lal Singh after parting ways with the BJP in 2018.

Singh, a two-time MP and three-time MLA who switched from the Congress to BJP in 2014, asked all like-minded parties to support the yatra and defeat the "nefarious designs of enemies" within and outside the country.

"The DSSP which is heading the Municipal Council Kathua will accord a warm welcome to the Bharat Jodo Yatra on behalf of all Dogras of Jammu. The forces hell bent upon to break the secular fabric of Jammu and Kashmir need to be defeated," he said. Earlier, the president of the J-K unit of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Manish Sahni lauded Gandhi for the march and appealed to people to join it in huge numbers to give a "befitting reply to those who do politics of hatred and religion".

"We will welcome and join the Bharat Jodo Yatra on its arrival in the city of temples as per the instructions of party's national secretary and MP Anil Desai. In this era of despair and hatred, the Yatra which is carrying the message of brotherhood is most needed in the country, especially in Jammu and Kashmir," he told reporters here.

He charged that religion and casteism are being resorted to to divert public attention from various important issues like unemployment, inflation and economic distress.

"Jammu and Kashmir, the crown of the country, is suffering after it was bifurcated into two union territories (in August 2019) and its special status under Article 370 taken away," he said, adding people have been waiting for restoration of the democratic process over the past three years.

He also added that terrorist attacks on minorities have witnessed a spurt over the past couple of years.

The Yatra, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, will conclude in Srinagar by January 30, with Gandhi hoisting the national flag in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

The march has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Welcoming the decision of the DSSP and Shiv Sena to join the yatra, J&K Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said several top leaders of different political parties are likely to join the yatra in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The support to Yatra has unnerved the BJP whose leaders are issuing irresponsible and illogical statements as they feel that the failure of the policies and programmes of the centre government and UT administration would get exposed before the nation," he said. PTI TAS TIR