BJP's politics to defame Bharat Jodo Yatra: Jairam Ramesh on Health Minister's letter to Rahul Gandhi

Faridabad (Haryana) [India], December 23 (ANI): After Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya's letter asking for adherence to COVID protocol in Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra, party general secretary and former union minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday alleged that the move is ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) politics to defame the march.
"This is BJP's politics to defame Bharat Jodo Yatra. If there is a protocol on a scientific basis or the views of experts, then Bharat Jodo Yatra will definitely follow it," Ramesh told ANI.
In a letter to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Union Health Minister asked them to follow the COVID-19 guidelines strictly during the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra.
"Follow the COVID guidelines strictly during Bharat Jodo Yatra which is going on in Rajasthan. Use of masks-sanitiser should be implemented. Only vaccinated people should participate," the Health Minister said in the letter written on Tuesday.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday slammed the government for making excuses to stop the Bharat Jodo Yatra, alleging that the central government is scared of India's truth.
'It's their (BJP) new idea, they wrote a letter to me saying Covid is coming and stop the Yatra. All these are excuses to stop this Yatra, they are sacred of India's truth," said Rahul Gandhi while addressing a rally in Haryana's Nuh.
Union Health Minister Mandaviya in his letter also requested to postpone the foot march if the following protocol is not possible.
"If following COVID protocol is not possible then the Bharat Jodo Yatra be postponed in the national interest, taking note of the public health emergency," the letter further stated.
Mandaviya said he wrote the letter after three MPs from Rajasthan wrote to him saying many people who had participated in the yatra had contracted the infection.
He said Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who participated in the yatra some days ago, had also tested positive.
Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi resumed from Haryana's Kherli Lala in Sohna on Friday. Many people were seen joining the march holding banners and party flags.
The ongoing foot march of the grand old party had entered Haryana on Wednesday.
So far, the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which started from Kanyakumari on September 7, has covered parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra and has now entered Haryana. It is the longest march on foot by any Indian politician in the history of India, the Congress has claimed.
It will reach the National capital on December 24. Yatra will end at Red Fort with the address of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi aims to mobilize the party cadre and unite the general public against the alleged "divisive politics in the country". (ANI)