Rae Bareli win prompts Uma to take a long walk

New Delhi, May 12 (UNI) The record victory for Congress President Sonia Gandhi may have drowned all her opponents in one go, but the margin of victory has not doused the spirit of firebrand leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti. She has decided to take a long walk from Rameshwaram in southern coast to Kedarnath in Himalayas to highlight the dangers of foreign economic power and leadership.

The 2,500 KM 'Bharat Bachao Yatra' will start from tomorrow itself because the results of recent elections had given broad indications that the forces inimical to the civilisational and cultural integrity of India had gained ascendency in electoral polity. "We have to ensure that the dangers that swept Rae Bareli today will not engulf the entire country and enslave India one more time", the Bharatiya Janashakti Party President Uma Bharti told newspersons today.

She clarified that her padayatra was not against Ms Gandhi but the nation has to be alerted to the dangers of foreign economy and leadership. "It is not possible to accept a foreigner as an Indian just because she had got the citizenship. That does not give her a right to lead the country using the names of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi without any sacrifice. India requires honest and mature Leadership", she said.

The former Madhya Pradesh CM said people expected much from her former party BJP to give relief to the people from the nation being subjugated to foreign economy and polity for foreign and foreign inspired forces.

Asked why she was not accepting people's mandate in Rae Bareli, she said it was her right to speak out one's mind. "I will tell the truth even if I am the only person to raise the voice", she remarked. "My Bharatiya Jana Shakti is a nascent party. I pose a challenge to Mrs Gandhi. Let us see if this country belongs to a common man like me or to Mrs Gandhi two years from now", she said.

When a reporter asked that there were several people of Indian origin becoming Prime Ministers of several countries, she said in countries like Fiji Islands, Maldives and West Indies several leaders of Indian origin did emerge as leaders by their deeds. "One should not forget that their forefathers were taken on ships by the British for indentured labour 200 years ago", she remarked.

Asked if she was inspired by 'Bharat Suraksha Yatra' of BJP leader L K Advani for her venture, she said there could be no comparison because Mr Advani was not clear about security from which quarter.

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