 펄 orable  FINAL  돌� 戒 ー          5 3 4 5 4 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 ー                                                                                                                                                                              and even more I'd like to thank you for walking with me over the last one or two kilometers. Last year, we did a walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, 4000 km called the Bharat Joro Yatra. And the reason behind the walk was we felt that the BJP was attacking many ideas that are central to the idea of India. The RSS and the BJP were attacking the foundations of our country. The idea that all religions should live harmoniously in India, the idea that all communities, all languages, all traditions should be respected were all systematically been attacked by the RSS. And so, to protect the idea of India, we decided to do the Bharat Joro Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. And we walked from the sea to the mountains of Kashmir. And in this walk, we had thousands and thousands and thousands of conversations with people. So, in this walk of 4000 km, we listened to the voice of the people of India. Farmers, labourers, young people, millions and millions of people spoke to us. After the walk, many people came to us and said, you have walked from south to north, but what about the other axis, east to west? What about the voice of the people who live in the northeast? What about the voice of the people in Orissa, in Bengal, in Uttar Pradesh, in Bihar? What about the voice of the people who live in the northeast? What about the voice of the people in Orissa, in Bengal, in Uttar Pradesh, in Bihar? What about the voice of the people in Orissa, in Bengal, in Uttar Pradesh, in Bihar? And so, we decided that we would do another Bharat Joro Yatra that would go from Manipur all the way to Maharashtra. And people asked us, why did you start from Manipur? And the reason is because the ideology of the RSS and the BJP has destroyed the idea of Manipur. The politics of hatred and violence has torn the state apart. Hundreds of people have died, thousands of people have lost their property, it is a complete tragedy. And that is why we wanted to send a message to the rest of India about the pain that the people of Manipur are feeling. It is amazing to me that India, after many many months, has not even bothered to pay a visit to the people of Manipur. Is Manipur not an Indian state? Are the people of Manipur not from India? The Prime Minister has travelled to so many states but he refuses to go to Manipur. Brothers and sisters, if the Prime Minister of India wanted to stop the violence in Manipur, he could stop it in three days. If he told the Indian army that the violence in Manipur should be stopped, I am confident that the Indian army would have stopped the violence within a matter of days. The truth is, he is not interested in stopping the violence in Manipur. The people of Manipur to suffer. The Yatra went from Manipur to Nagaland, to Assam, Arunachal and has now come to your beautiful state. You might be smaller than Uttar Pradesh, but for us, all states in the Indian Union are equally important. We do not view a child of Manipur, a child of Meghalaya any different than we view a child of Uttar Pradesh or Bihar or Tamil Nadu. We respect your culture, your tradition, your languages. We believe fundamentally that Meghalaya should be ruled from Meghalaya. Meghalaya should be ruled from Meghalaya. That is why I clearly stated in parliament that our constitution says that India is a union of states. What this means is that the states come together and form a union. And it also means that every single state of this great nation is equal. And their voice is equally important. Now the voice of Meghalaya, the voice of Manipur, the voice of Arunachal, these are all being attacked. Your tradition, your history, your way of life is being attacked by the RSS. The conversation between the states happens through the institutions of the nation. The legal system, the election commission. These institutions protect the conversation between our states. The conversation between our states happens through the institutions of India. And the constitution protects the conversation between our states. And today the RSS is strangling the constitution, strangling the institutional framework of India. And Meghalaya is not ruled from Meghalaya. Meghalaya is ruled from Delhi. And as far as we are concerned, this is not acceptable. The nation is facing the highest levels of unemployment it has faced in the last 40 years. The Home Minister himself called Meghalaya's government the most corrupt government in the nation. And then immediately after calling the government of Meghalaya the most corrupt, he partnered with it. There is the illegal coal transport scam, the assembly dome collapse scam. These are clear for all of you to see. Your languages are not included in the 8th schedule. 22 languages are included in the 8th schedule. But your languages, Kasi and Garo, have no room in that. The structures that we got to protect your land, protect the adivasis, protect the local forests has been uprooted. The power of your autonomous councils is snatched away from them. So all the work we did in decentralizing power, giving power to the people of Meghalaya is being reversed slowly. These are some of the issues that we want to raise in the Bharachodo Yatra. But the most important thing that the Bharachodo Yatra is aimed at is talking to you and listening to you. Understanding the dreams of the youngsters of Meghalaya, understanding the difficulties faced by the farmers of this state, understanding the potential of the state. And most important for me is making a relationship with the people of Meghalaya. I come here with humility, with respect towards your culture, your tradition and I come here to listen and to learn from you. I am not here to tell you my monkey bath, I am here to listen to your monkey bath. And so in the Yatra we spent 6-7 hours talking to the people of Meghalaya and other states and then in the end we speak for 20-25 minutes. Before I conclude, I'd like to leave you with one thought I had. Today when we were driving here, we stopped and tasted some of your pineapples. There was a daughter and a mother who was selling the pineapples on the side of the road. In my entire life I have never had such a delicious pineapple. In fact immediately after I had it, I called up my mother and I said I am bringing some of the best pineapples in the world to you. So two or three small questions. One, why isn't the best tasting pineapple in the world available to the entire world? Why is the best pineapple in the world not being sold in London, New York, Tokyo in these places? And why are the farmers and that mother and daughter not benefiting from the sale of your pineapples to the rest of the world? Because we have not or the infrastructure has not been developed to send that pineapple to the rest of the world. The entire population of Meghalaya can become wealthy on what you produce here. You gave me oranges, I haven't tasted them yet, but I am convinced that they will be among the best oranges in the world. And I think it is important that we develop a vision for Meghalaya that achieves some of these things. I want to conclude by saying I am your soldier in Delhi. Whatever you need from me in Delhi, I will always try and deliver to you. And I want to have a loving relationship with the people of Meghalaya. And that is why I have come here. I would like to conclude by saying, in the market of hatred, we have to open a shop of love. And I want to leave you with the commitment that we will never ever allow anyone to damage your history, your tradition, your language, your religion, your way of life. I want to leave you with the commitment that we will never allow anyone to damage your history, your religion, your culture, your way of life. Thank you very much, good night. Thank you very much.