"All Tourists Are Welcome": Himanta Sarma On Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Thursday said the government will give permission to the Congress to hold its Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra if it seeks permission. But there is no information yet on the Congress seeking permission to hold the Yatra in Assam, he asserted.

The Yatra, to be led by Rahul Gandhi and other top Congress leaders, is slated to reach Assam on January 18 after being flagged off from Manipur capital Imphal on January 14. The eight-day Assam leg of the Yatra will continue till January 25 and cover 17 districts of the state, party sources said.

"I asked the chief secretary if Congress has sought permission, but he is still to receive any information on this'', Mr Sarma told a press conference here.

"They (Congress) are creating an unnecessary fuss. We do not know if and when they are coming. We do not even know the route they propose to take,'' he said.

The media is informed about everything on the Yatra but the Assam government is not aware of anything, Mr Sarma quipped.

Mr Sarma, who is a prominent BJP leader of the northeast, said the party will respond politically to Congress' Yatra though the Assam government will give the permission if it is sought.

''Where is the conflict in this? Whether it is 'nyay' (justice) or 'annyay' (injustice), all tourists are welcome to the state ... If more tourists come to our state, we will welcome them. In 2022-23, 44 lakh tourists had visited and in 2023-24, 70 lakh tourist footfalls have been reported so far,'' he said to questions.

Congress has said that the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will be taken out for economic, social and political justice of the people of the country.

Asked about the Congress claim during the day that the party has been denied permission to stay in a school at Gogamukh in Dhemaji district and a college in Jorhat, Mr Sarma said that permission cannot be given for using schools and colleges when they are in session. ''But if it is on a Sunday, they can''.

The chief minister also said that the Yatra will have to remain on the national highway and not enter the Guwahati city limits as it will create traffic snarls. "If the Congress Yatra has to move through the city, they must finish before 8 am so that traffic is not affected', he added.

Processions within the city by anybody, including the BJP, will not be allowed as there are hospitals and nursing homes located in it and their ambulance services will be affected, he said.

Congress leader Debabrata Saikia, who is also the leader of the opposition in the Assam Assembly, said that with the government refusing permission to use the premises of the educational institutions at Dhemaji and Jorhat the party is now looking for alternative arrangements in farm lands or fields of individuals for stationing the containers in which senior party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, will stay for the night.

Responding to it, Mr Sarma said that the Congress leaders' stay in fields will not be a problem for the Assam government. "If the Congress wants I will direct the district commissioners to clear and clean it for them''.

The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, led by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, will begin from Imphal on January 14 and culminate in Mumbai on March 20.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)