Yogesh Sagotra
Jammu, Sep 10: Congress leader and Member Parliament Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that he belongs to a Kashmiri Pandit family and feels home like vibes after visiting Jammu and Kashmir.
Wrapping up his two-day Jammu visit, Rahul while addressing a workers convention in Jammu’s Trikuta Nagar, said: “Whenever I come to Jammu and Kashmir, I feel home like vibes. I realized it at Vaishno Devi Darbar too.”
He said: “My family has a long relationship with Jammu and Kashmir. I’m a Kashmiri Pandit and my family is Kashmiri Pandit. Today morning, a delegation of Kashmiri Pandits met me. They told me that Congress implemented many welfare schemes for them.”
Rahul further said: “I promise my Kashmiri Pandit brothers that I will do something definitely for them.”
He said that he will soon visit Ladakh region.
The Congress leader exhorted the gathering to chant ‘Jai Mata Di’, a day after he paid obeisance at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra. Invoking the Goddess in his speech, Gandhi said, “I went to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine yesterday. There are three symbols of mata (pindis) there – Mata Durga, Mata Lakshmi and Mata Saraswati. Goddess Durga protects us, Lakshmi is a symbol of power, and Saraswati symbolises education and knowledge.”
Former Chief Minister and Leader in Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad while addressing the gathering maintained the Jammu and Kashmir witnessed development in triple shifts during Congress and PDP collation government rule, when he was chief Minister.
Rajni Patil, In-charge Jammu and Kashmir Congress came heavily on fractions within the party and said that indiscipline would not be tolerated as nobody is above the party despite of his political stature.
Earlier, Rahul was given a rousing reception at the Jammu airport on his arrival earlier in the day and Congress members, including top leaders, welcomed him with beats of dolaks.
On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi paid obeisance at the Mata Vaishnodevi temple. He reached the shrine after undertaking a “14-km-long yatra” on foot through the Trikuta hills from Katra base camp, said party leaders.
Rahul also met with the head pujari and the aarti pujari at the Bhawan and was blessed by them. During his trek to the shrine, the former Congress president was flanked by several leaders, including Mir.
