Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday to change his government's policies after listening carefully to people, who are now voicing their concerns after joining the "Bharat Jodo Yatra". He also shared the experience of one Bijendra, who claimed that he was a successful businessman once but lost everything during the COVID-19 pandemic and blamed the Modi government's policies for his plight.
"Contribution of India's small businesses...40 per cent employment, 27 per cent GDP, 45 per cent export. The wrong policies of the government have broken the backbone of businesses, like that of Bijendra's, worth crores," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi. "Prime minister ji, the Bharat Jodo Yatra has put people's 'Mic on'. Listen carefully and change your policies," the Congress leader said.
Bijendra, in his short video shared by Gandhi on Twitter, claimed that he employed several people but has lost everything now and blamed the "wrong" policies of the government for it. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Jairam Ramesh also shared the video and said, "The combined assaults of demonetisation, GST, and mismanagement of COVID-19 have devastated millions of lives and livelihoods."
"Bijendra Makad joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra to find hope and a platform to voice his pain -- is the Modi government listening?" Ramesh asked on Twitter. Gandhi is undertaking the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7 and will conclude in Srinagar on January 30.
The yatra is in Haryana currently and the former Congress chief has said he has undertaken the foot march to make people aware of their rights and focus their attention towards the issues of price rise, unemployment, and unequal distribution of wealth while alleging that the poor is turning poorer and the rich richer under the BJP-led government.
