New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi, the head of the Congress, said on Sunday that he had never owned a home and stated that this had enabled him to "transform" his Bharat Jodo Yatra and establish relationships with the populace.
In his remarks to the Congress plenary meeting in Nava Raipur, Chhattisgarh, Gandhi stated that he wanted every participant in the Yatra to feel like they were returning home.
When his family was getting ready to move out of their government housing in 1977, he remembered the experience.
At the house, there was an odd vibe. I went and asked my mother what had happened. We are leaving the house, according to Ma.
I had previously assumed it to be our home. So I questioned my mum about our decision to leave our home. My mother then for the first time told me that the house wasn't ours, but rather the government's, and that we needed to leave right away, the Congress leader recalled.
Rahul Gandhi claimed that he had spoken to his mother, Sonia Gandhi, about their upcoming destination. "Nahi maloom, as my mother stated, means 'don't know. I was surprised. Formerly, I believed it to be our home.
"I have been without a home for 52 years. Our family's home is in Allahabad, yet that home is not actually ours. Yet, that is not my home," he remarked of his residence at 12 Tughaq Lane.
Gandhi then talked about his Yatra, which he described as having started on September 7 of last year in Kanyakumari, travelled across 12 states and two union territories, and ended in Kashmir at the end of January.
"As I left Kanyakumari, I pondered what my responsibility is... I developed a thought. I informed my family that I would be living in this 20 to 25-foot region surrounding me for the ensuing four months. I'll be moving this house with me.
"Anyone arrives here, whether they are rich or poor, old or young, from any nation or religion, from afar, or even if they are an animal, they should feel like they have come home, and when they leave, they should feel like they are leaving their home," the statement reads. The Yatra changed the day I performed it, Gandhi stated.
Although the Gandhi family enjoys "responsibility without power," the BJP attacked Gandhi, claiming that his comments demonstrate their "feeling of entitlement."
"Rahul ji used to believe that all the residences and vehicles he was utilising were his. This is referred to as having a sense of entitlement if you believe that the government is your home and that you have the right to evict us, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters.
Gandhi, according to him, began his Yatra only recently, whereas the two prime ministers of the BJP spent their entire lives travelling the nation and becoming "pracharaks" to learn about it.
"After turning 52, he is considering what should be his responsibility... after resigning as president of the Congress... Power without accountability is both your slogan and the Gandhi family's," Patra remarked.
Mallikarjun Kharge is the president of the Congress, he claimed, but the Gandhi family is the centre of attention for the entire party plenary. —Input from Agencies