The yatra saw the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha visiting 25 districts of the state, covering a distance of over 1,300 kilometres.
The march, which began here at the historic Gandhi Maidan with the Congress MP and his allies atop an open vehicle, was stopped at the Dak Bungalow crossing, almost a kilometer in front of BR Ambedkar’s statue near the Patna High Court, the desired end point, which was reflected in the title of the procession, “from Gandhi to Ambedkar”.
“Barricades have been erected at Dak Bungalow crossing as the road beyond is a restricted area where no processions can be allowed,” said Kartikeya Sharma, senior superintendent of police, Patna.
The leaders, however, appeared prepared for this eventuality with a makeshift dais erected on site, and they quietly alighted from the open vehicle from where they were leading a swarm of political activists waving the flags of their respective parties.
Heavyweights including de facto Indian bloc chief minister candidate Tejashwi Yadav, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and Left stalwarts Annie Raja, MA Baby and Dipankar Bhattacharya took turns to address the audience.
The police’s handling of the crowd was criticized by Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, the penultimate speaker to take the mike before Gandhi.
“Why the jostling at a rally where opposition leaders from the Lok Sabha and the Bihar assembly are present,” asked the 83-year-old leader.
“I do not want to threaten the police, but if you try to disrupt this public meeting on the instructions of the powers that be, then remember that the days of government in the state are numbered,” he asserted.
Earlier, Yadav had told the gathering that he was “not afraid” of the BJP and reminded people of the arrest of Lal Krishna Advani in Bihar, at the height of the Ayodhya movement, by the government led by his father and RJD president Lalu Prasad.
The young leader also criticized Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, alleging that “political somersaults from time to time have made him lose his mind”.
“For some time, he has been implementing the benefits that I had promised. He may be a copycat but he lacks a vision of his own. His government must be ousted in the next parliamentary polls,” Yadav asserted.
After the public meeting concluded, Gandhi, accompanied by state Congress president Rajesh Kumar and a handful of other party colleagues, visited the High Court campus and paid floral tributes at Ambedkar’s statue.
Soren launched a veiled investigation into the Narendra Modi government, alleging that “cunning and cunning people came to power in 2014 and since then they have brought ruin to the country”.
“You all may remember how I was jailed during the Lok Sabha elections. A few months later, when I was released, we defeated the NDA in the parliamentary elections. Had I not been put behind bars during the parliamentary elections, we would have ensured that the BJP-led coalition did not get a single seat in Jharkhand,” he told the gathering.
Baby and Raja, whose husband, D Raja, general secretary of the CPI, had arrived at Gandhi Maidan in a party procession, spoke a little Hindi, to the delight of the crowd.
Bhattacharya, in his speech, said, “A special inquiry, revision of electoral rolls is a ‘vote-bandi’, as demonetization was a ‘note-bandi’. The previous decision had ruined the economy. The latest measure endangers our electoral democracy. Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut said, “The roars emanating from here are loud enough to reach the ‘vote stealer’ (vote choron ke sardar) champion who is currently visiting China.”
