In a saffron-colored turban, Rahul Gandhi paid obeisance to the Golden Temple today, one day before the Punjab leg of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ begins.
According to sources in the Congress, Rahul intervened to reschedule the yatra and he visited the holiest Sikh shrine.
As a result of the sudden change in his schedule, many senior Punjabi leaders were caught off guard. There was a kind of competition among Congress leaders of the region to greet the leader at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport due to the eleventh-hour changes to the schedule.
In the presence of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Amritsar Member of Parliament Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Rahul queued up like an ordinary devotee to pay his respects to the sanctum sanctorum. Inside the sanctum sanctorum, he offered ‘karah parsad’ and bowed down before Guru Granth Sahib. Listening to Gurbani kirtan, he sat there. In the complex, he even jumped to help a cameraman who fell.
A Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) official was not seen accompanying him in the Golden Temple, and Bajwa was seen explaining the various religious traditions of the Sikhs as well as historical aspects of the temple.
In the past, he flew down to Ambala to visit the holy city. After leaving the airport, he went to a nearby hotel owned by a prominent Tarn Taran Congress leader’s family.
